


Guardians of Atlantis

by obiwanken5



Category: Stargate: Atlantis
Genre: Community: scifibigbang, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-01-05
Updated: 2011-01-05
Packaged: 2017-10-14 10:50:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 25,518
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/148455
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/obiwanken5/pseuds/obiwanken5
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Alysia Ornil joins the Atlantis Expedition to head up the Archaeology Department, but finds more than she ever dreamed possible when an off-world discovery uncovers a shocking secret that could shatter all that we know about the Ancients. Now it's a race against time as Atlantis races to decipher the clues and unlock the secret of the Ancestors before the Wraith destroy everything.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Resemblances to Atlantis: The Lost Empire is only slightly intentional. I blame this plot bunny on having watched Atlantis: The Lost Empire after so many years. I make no apologies. Also, this story takes place very early on in Season 3 (specifically between "Sateda" and "Progeny"). So key things that are now the norm for the Expedition that weren't at the start of the series are firmly in place and it may confuse you if you're not up on everything.
> 
> Thanks to Laura and Colleen for the beta and artwork respectively :)
> 
> Any additional mistakes are completely my own XD

Doctor Alysia Ornil had been in the Pegasus Galaxy for a month and had still not seen anything more fascinating than the inside of Dr. McKay's lab. Here she was, a leading archaeologist in a whole other galaxy that just begged to be catalogued and researched, and all she had seen were the hallways of Atlantis. That wasn't to say that the Ancient city wasn't fascinating or filled with treasures beyond the wildest dreams of any archaeologist or scientist; no, the abandoned city held more than its share of secrets and wealth, but it was really nothing compared to being off planet.

 _I came here to fill the same shoes that Dr. Jackson fills for SG-1 on this expedition,_ she thought with a sigh. _Instead I get to wallow in the science labs while Dr. McKay uses me as his trained monkey. Hell, even Zelenka gets to go off world more than I do!_

It was ironic, when she thought about it, since Zelenka hated going off-world and yet he had more ‘Gate time than half the science team combined. Despite her unhappiness, Alysia tapped at her keyboard, diligently inputting McKay's last batch of data from his most recent mission. She snorted. _Hell, the way McKay carries on, sometimes, you'd think he was the one in charge of these missions._

A stream of Czech curses and insults followed by McKay's indignant, "Radek, you know I'm right!" heralded the arrival of the top two scientists in Atlantis, and the subjects of Alysia's most recent musings. She pretended to ignore them as she continued typing; she was used to the petty bickering between them by now.

"Yes, yes. Of course, you're right," Zelenka stated wryly, with an off-handed wave. "When have you ever been wrong?"

"Exactly!" McKay said with happy triumph. Alysia could imagine McKay's face as its jubilation fell into annoyed resignation. "Okay, now did you have to say it in that tone?"

"What tone?" Zelenka asked, sarcastically, feigning ignorance.

"The tone which implies that you are mocking me," McKay stated in his arrogant, matter-of-fact way. Alysia tried not to roll her eyes.

Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Zelenka glaring at McKay. "Right," he said, deadpan. "Because no one is allowed to mock the great Rodney McKay."

The young woman decided it was time to step in and break it up before it got ugly. "Doctor McKay?" she asked, turning in her seat to face them and effectively derailing whatever retort McKay was about to zing across the room. "Could you clarify part of your notes? I don't want to copy them incorrectly."

Alysia tried not to snort at McKay's smug little smirk as he gave Zelenka an overly pleased chuckle. "See?" the physicist said, his spirits picking up. "At least _somebody_ here respects me enough to want to do things right, which is to say, my way."

Zelenka muttered something under his breath that sounded a little like "only because they are all terrified of you."

Alysia had to bite her tongue to keep from laughing. It was true, for the most part. Rodney McKay did run the Science Department as his own private dictatorship and had everyone living in a constant state of fear and frenzy, the likes of which no amount of caffeine or narcotics could ever duplicate.

 _I suppose this is what I've been reduced to for the long haul. May as well get used to it._ And with that final thought, Alysia settled down and prepared to placate her superior and do his bidding.

**

"I knew I should have worn my sunscreen. Who knows what that green sun did to me," Rodney McKay griped. He held his arm up for inspection. "I think I'm starting to peel."

"Relax Rodney," John Sheppard said with a roll of his eyes. "The readings you took matched the MALP's. You're about as likely to have an adverse reaction to those radiation levels as you would in the darkest room here in Atlantis."

The two men were walking the corridors towards the Science Labs. McKay had stated that he needed to gather some notes he had left behind for the debriefing of their most recent mission to P3M-597, a comparatively quiet planet when put next to some of Team Sheppard's other missions. Since John was headed in more or less the same direction, he had decided to tag along.

"That's easy for you to say, Mr. Tanned Surfer Boy," McKay retorted, peering at Sheppard. "Not only do I bruise easily, but I burn like _that!_ " He snapped his fingers for emphasis. "Not all of us are gifted with the ability to look like you."

John snorted. "Get off it, Rodney. You're just jealous because all the time you spend in the labs has you super-sensitised to light-levels above laptop-screen glow."

McKay's indignant _hmph!_ ended the conversation, and the pair walked the rest of the way in silence.

"Y'know, Rodney," Sheppard said, finally. "Don't think I'm not sympathetic to your sunburn-phobia."

"Please. Spare me the feeble attempt at contrasting and comparing."

"No, really! I remember this one spring break during college. It was me, two friends and a teeming mass of gorgeous women." John ignored McKay's snort and kept going, "anyway, we were there on the beach, and after showing off our moves on the waves, we kicked back and started the _real_ party." John paused to collect his thoughts and steal a glance at McKay, and he was pleased to see that his companion seemed to be listening with at least a passing interest. "So there we were, drinking champagne and losing our shirts, the sun riding high in the sky. Next thing I know, it's day break and I'm waking up with a girl on each arm and the wickedest sunburn you can imagine."

Another snort from the physicist was followed by an eager, "Please tell me your sunburn was something abnormal."

John winced. "Oh, it was. Compared to the lobster-red of the burn, I was bone-white in the exact places where the girls passed out on me."

McKay laughed, grinning maniacally. "Oh, tell me there's pictures! That would just make my year."

"Well, if there were, they're in a place where you can't get to them," John replied, a little indignantly. "And, if this is the thanks I get, remind me never to share misery in an attempt to placate you ever again."

"Which means that I'll have them by the end of the week, and you love trying to one-up me in the misery department, admit it."

John wished that Rodney didn't sound smug as he made his declaration. "Whatever. If you manage to get your hands on those pictures…"

"You'll what, Sheppard? Confine me to my lab?" McKay looked gleeful as he wrung his hands together. "This is going to be sweet."

"Actually, I was going to say, _strand you on M7G-677 with a single chocolate bar_." John smiled as McKay stopped dead in his tracks, jaw hanging open. The Lt.-Colonel pulled ahead several paces as McKay gaped.

"Oh, hey now. That's not funny," the physicist whined.

"I wasn't laughin'." John flashed McKay a smile and clasped his hands behind his back. He continued on to the science labs with an extra spring in his step, McKay trailing dejectedly behind, until the scientist gave a cry of triumph.

 _"There are no pictures!"_ he said, catching up to John. "You're just looking for an excuse to get rid of me."

"Now why would I do that?" John asked innocently as he entered the lab.

"Because it would be the prudent thing to do, that's why," Zelenka replied by way of greeting.

"Funny," McKay deadpanned. "Real funny." He moved past John, who exchanged a look with Zelenka, and headed towards his desk, where he poked around. "Hey, where'd my notes go?" he asked finally, voice starting to climb. "They were right here!"

John sighed. "Are you sure you left them here? Maybe they're in your room?"

"No. No I left them right…you! Ornil! Where did my notes on P3M-597 go?" he snapped at a young lab aid.

The woman jumped and turned to look at him. "I have them right here, Dr. McKay. I was just finishing off transferring this last page to your-"

"Yes, yes, too late for that, now, hm?" He snatched the folder out of the young woman's hand and turned back to John and Zelenka. He waved the file triumphantly. "We can go now."

John shot an apologetic look to the woman and winced when she turned the death-glare she was giving McKay onto him. John smiled wryly at Zelenka, who shrugged and went back to work as John and McKay headed to their debriefing.


	2. Getting Sorted

It was nice to finally get out of that dungeon called the science labs. Shifting her tote bag further onto her shoulder, Alysia stepped into the mess hall and grabbed a tray. She loaded it up with a sandwich, an apple and a bottle of water and headed for a table. Her bag safely placed on the floor next to her chair, she dug out her novel and settled in for a bit of good old fashioned escapism. She was just getting lost in the pages of the story and the noises of Atlantis were dropping away when the grating tones of Rodney McKay brutally yanked her back into reality.

"We have no one with that level of expertise outside of me, and I'm a physicist, not an archaeologist. What does that tell you about our personnel?"

Alysia couldn't help it. The conversation had her stiffening, straining to catch each and every word.

The soothing lilt of John Sheppard's voice had affected a mollifying cadence as he replied, "Relax, Rodney. There's no way Elizabeth left Earth without a qualified archaeologist and, even if she did, the _Daedalus_ would have brought one by now."

"Yes, yes, that's all well and good, but we don't just need any old archaeologist, we need Doctor Jackson."

 _Oh, for the love of...! This was why I came to Atlantis in the first place and McKay has me confined to fetching his coffee and typing out his notes!_

She couldn't contain the spike of anger that surged through her as she watched the Colonel and his companion set their own trays down on their usual table and slide into chairs. She mentally stabbed McKay with a pencil. She didn't even notice as she crunched her water bottle in her hand, its contents spilling onto her lap, until the fabric of her uniform soaked up the liquid. Wide-eyed, she tore her concentration away from Sheppard and McKay and looked down. Muttering curses under her breath, she grabbed a handful of napkins and tried to clean the mess up. Dropping the sodden napkins onto her tray and tossing her book back into her bag, she gathered her things and stormed over to the tray reclamation area, making no apologies when she bumped into the back of McKay's chair. Both Scientist and Colonel paused in their conversation to look up at her.

"What's up with her?" she heard Sheppard ask around a mouthful of food. "Isn't that the girl you yelled at over your notes?"

"Hrm? Oh, you mean Alysia? I don't know what's up with her. Maybe I'm pushing her too hard, or something. It'd be too bad if I am, she's my star assistant...and I never yell at my staff. Much." were the last words the young woman heard before she exited the mess hall and turned the corner.

She walked briskly for several meters before turning down an empty side corridor and walking a ways down it. When she was certain that she was alone, she punched the wall and screamed. If the Wraith didn't attack Atlantis and kill her, then McKay and his superiority complex surely would.

 _And if that happens, I fully intend on taking him with me,_ she vowed silently, resting her head against the cool wall and squeezing her eyes shut. She'd just about had it with playing McKay's lackey. It was time to take the matter up with Doctor Weir.

**

"Gentlemen, Teyla," Doctor Elizabeth Weir greeted her flagship team with her customary smile as they took their places around the conference table. "I've been over your preliminary reports from P3M-597 and I must say that, in conjunction with what we discussed in your debriefing, it's piqued my curiosity. An entire outpost that is so obviously Ancient in origin, yet with no signs of their technology whatsoever, is a mystery that could very well keep me up at night."

"Indeed," Teyla responded, smiling at Weir's tiny joke. "It is not like the Ancestors to build such a primitive place, given their level of advancement."

"That's why I want you to go back and find out why the Ancients created this outpost."

McKay, predictably, held up his hand. "Um, excuse me," he said. "Perhaps you didn't read my entire report, so I'm going to fill you in. We can't go back. Not with any of the personnel we have on staff right now. No one's qualified –"

"You're wrong, Rodney," Weir stated calmly, cutting the physicist off. The pronouncement of his error was enough to derail him to a sputtering string of nonsense, which was an opportunity that Atlantis' administrator pounced upon with glee. "I _did_ read your entire report," she said, folding her hands and leaning forward a little. "And I happen to know that you're wrong. We _do_ have someone who is more than qualified for this mission. In fact, I asked that she be brought in specifically for this very reason." At McKay's incredulous look, Weir pressed on. "And, she is hand-picked by Doctor Daniel Jackson – who sends his regards along with a _very_ glowing recommendation."

Sheppard turned to McKay with a smug smile. "See? I told you."

McKay crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back in his seat. "Oh, shut up," was his muttered reply as he settled in for a sulking session.

Elizabeth smiled at them and keyed her comm. "Send her in."

The four members of Team Sheppard turned as one as Alysia Ornil entered. Her appearance startled McKay out of his funk and back into another round of sputtering, while Sheppard tried his hardest not to break into laughter. Weir merely smiled and gestured for Alysia to take a seat.

"Everyone, this is Doctor Alysia Ornil." Weir passed out personnel folders to each team member. She waited until everyone was skimming the material before she continued. "As you can see from her file, not only is she a leading archaeologist, she is Dr. Jackson's protégé and every bit his equal in this field of study. She has expressed a very high interest in the Ancients and has managed to take all of our data on them and make her own database, of a sort."

"That's pretty impressive," Sheppard said appreciatively, giving Alysia a smile.

She looked sheepish as she shrugged. "It's nothing, really. I've just been taking all the information from your reports and reorganizing it into something much more manageable than the Lantian database. I've been supplementing it during my free time since I arrived last month."

"We could really use her help," McKay said, looking up at Weir and pointing to Alysia. His eyes dropped back to the file and he read further. "I mean, we could _really_ use her help."

"Sure, I'd love to bring you your coffee and transcribe your notes for the duration of the mission, Doctor McKay," Alysia said sarcastically with sycophantic overtones. "I've had _loads_ of practice."

"You made her get you coffee," Ronon finally spoke up, putting his copy of the file down on the table and pointing from McKay to Alysia and back again.

"Yes, well, obviously a mistake on my part," McKay said quietly, closing the file and putting it down as he folded his hands and pursed his lips. "Had I been aware of her qualifications, I wouldn't have treated her as a gofer."

"Wow, Rodney," Sheppard said with a low whistle. "Was that an _apology_?"

"And," Teyla spoke up, grinning at Sheppard, "An admittance of error?"

"This doesn't leave the room," McKay said sharply.

"Of course not," Weir said, trying to stifle a laugh.

"Nor do we speak of it. Ever," the physicist added unhappily.

"Like anyone would believe us," Ronon said with a snort.

Elizabeth hid a smirk at the superior a half-smile Alysia gave McKay as the scientist glared at Ronon. When everyone was done perusing Alysia's file, Elizabeth met each gaze steadily and smiled. "I'm sure I don't have to tell you what needs to be done on this mission. With Alysia's help, you should have no problems translating any documentation you might find, and her fresh insights might help stimulate more than the usual conclusions that we seem to fall back upon. It's time we made a real effort to understand the Ancients, instead of merely making assumptions and letting ourselves be led like children. You'll leave as soon as you're ready."

"Well, kiddies," Sheppard said amiably, looking over his team. "Time for us to cut the apron strings and grow up."

"Right," McKay muttered, standing up and gathering his things. "Like that'll ever happen to you in this lifetime."

Sheppard merely stuck his tongue out at his friend and started for the door. "We head out in one hour," he tossed over his shoulder before disappearing into the control room.

Elizabeth smiled and nodded her blessings in response to the grateful look Alysia shot her. With a gesture of her head, Elizabeth Weir gave Alysia Ornil permission to follow Team Sheppard out. It was time to finally get to work.

**

P3M-597 was arid, though not uncomfortably so. The sky was clear, and a soft breeze played over the landscape, off-setting the warmth of the green sun, which cast everything in an emerald-tinted glow. It did not, of course, deter McKay from complaining vociferously about the heat and the fairness of his complexion.

"Let me guess, you forgot your sunblock again," Sheppard teased. "I figured you would have given it a permanent place in your pack by now."

"How the hell was I supposed to know we were coming back here?" McKay stated, with a glare for their CO. "Up until an hour ago I was under the impression that we didn't have the proper resources to continue this mission."

"I figure you would have dragged Elizabeth out here at some point, seeing as she's the one that knows the most about the Ancients, next to you."

"Now that would have been an idea..."

Alysia stood on the platform, ignoring the chatter and looking out over the terrain. It wasn't her first ‘Gate trip, having shadowed Dr. Jackson on a few missions back on Earth, but it didn't make the alien planet any less exciting. The immediate area surrounding the Stargate was barren for about a mile or so in all directions, the only adornment being the DHD, which rested at a safe distance from the ‘Gate. In the far distance, mountains capped with what the young archaeologist assumed to be snow swelled up from the horizon, each peak looking more like tiny hills than towering cliffs at this range. Isolated pockets of trees dotted the landscape, until they finally coalesced into a forest that stretched along either side of her, as far as the eye could see.

The sound of the wormhole disengaging startled Alysia from her survey of the world and she spun around, taking in the opposite side of the plains. Her assessment of the mile-wide swath of barrenness was proved faulty as the tree line from the forest came as close as the flora dared to the Ancients' transportation device, casting their shadow upon the dais. She turned to look back out at the mountains, and nodded. The Stargate had been built in a large clearing, with the forest cradling it gently.

Alysia finally joined Team Sheppard at the base of the Stargate platform. She tried not to bounce too much as she looked up at the Lt.-Colonel.

"So, where to?" she asked.

Sheppard smiled. "This way, Doc," he replied, taking point. He led the group around to the other side of the ‘Gate and entered the forest. Alysia kept up with him easily, staying a few paces behind and keeping out of his arc of fire.

McKay made an effort to catch up with her, as Ronon and Teyla took up the rear, both alert for anything out of the ordinary. The physicist seemed to think for a moment, before finally saying, "So, uh, how come you never protested when I ordered you around?"

Alysia tried not to roll her eyes. "You never gave me a chance to, Dr. McKay. You never give _anyone_ a chance to."

"I...oh...well, yes. I suppose you're right. But still."

"No buts. You like being the tyrant over the Science Department, admit it."

McKay smiled in what Alysia assumed was supposed to be a sheepish way, but as always, the man somehow managed to make the gesture look superior and egotistical. "Yeah," he said whimsically. "It is kinda fun."

The young woman snorted. She stepped up her pace to draw even with Sheppard, noticing that the man was smiling broadly, making it evident that he had heard the short conversation.

"How the hell do you put up with him all the time?" she asked.

"I've learned to tune him out," he replied. He tapped his temple. "I've created a mental filter to flag key words so I can tune back in when it's important."

"...Right."

Silence descended over the group, and Alysia let her gaze wander over their surroundings. The blanket of leaves rustled softly as they passed through, the trees towering over them as silent guardians of the planet. It was amazing how all forests seem to look the same, no matter where they were in the Universe. The same smell of damp and decaying leaves mingled with the fresh scent of pine and oak; it was the same, gentle rustling sound the breeze wound through the boughs and stirred the otherwise still air. Alysia's eyes were quickly adjusting to the emerald tint, and she could nearly imagine everything in their proper hues.

The first oddity of this particular forest, and indeed the first sign of intelligent life, came with the wooden footbridge that spanned a babbling brook. It was finely crafted and well maintained, though the normal forest debris coated the slats with only the center showing visible signs of the wood beneath, as if it had stood there for many years and endured many crossings. The group paused as Sheppard went across the bridge first, the others only following after it had been deemed safe. She thought it was a curious precaution, since this wasn't the first time Team Sheppard had come this way, but she saw the prudence of it. Alysia ran a curious finger over the railings, marvelling at how familiar and out-of-place the simple, incredibly Earth-like craftsmanship seemed to be.

She filed her observations away for future reference as they continued along the path. Several more minutes went by before they paused to navigate over a fallen tree that blocked the way. Alysia accepted the helping hand from Ronon, who had scaled the roadblock easily and assisted the team over. On the other side, they fell back into formation and continued on until the forest began to recede.

"Not much farther, now," Sheppard said quietly, breaking the silence. And it seemed he was right, as chunks of stone began to haphazardly line the path. The rocks grew in size until they emerged into another clearing, the floor littered with the fallen rock. From the center of this smaller clearing rose a half-collapsed stone structure. At first glance it could have easily been an ornate dwelling, the likes of which any high-standing official might live in.

"Teyla, Ronon, secure a perimeter. I'll keep an eye on Rodney and Alysia," Sheppard said, his quiet tones sounding much louder in the dead air. Orders given, the team broke and spread out, leaving Alysia to gawk in peace.

As Alysia stepped past Sheppard, eyes wide and taking everything in, she started running through possible uses for such a place. She pulled out a small digital voice-recorder and switched it on, then began to dictate, "Outside walls are fairly intact, though structural integrity seems to diminish as one climbs; the roof is missing, either collapsed in or, judging by the stone debris around the base and in the clearing, was blown out by explosives set inside. Internal inspection is pending so this is mostly speculative at this point. Main doorway is intact and archway stones, though looking worse for wear and seem to be threatening to fall, are more or less in place. Ditto the support columns for the entrance hallway. Front porch is intact, save where roofing stones tried to bounce and failed. A little wobbly in some places. Definitely a lot of debris that will need to be identified with parts of the structure, since it's really looking like a catastrophe from within. Over-all, it looks...heck, I can't think of  
any Earth civilization to compare it too. It's nearly a mish-mash of Roman, Greek, Cambodian...you name it, the influence is there." She clicked off the recorder.

"At first we figured this was just some abandoned building," McKay said eagerly, interrupting the young woman's thoughts and trying to lead Alysia around, "a by-product of a decimated civilization. But then we found this." The physicist had stopped by one of the support columns still standing, marking the original entrance to the structure. He ran his fingers over the stonework, a half-smirk playing over his lips.

Alysia tore her gaze away from the immensity of the structure and decided to humour McKay. As she walked, she added an addendum to her recording: "There's more debris inside, obviously the stonework that failed to clear the building. All supports – walls, pillars and what have you – are mostly standing, which is odd given earlier speculation of an explosion originating from inside. There is no sign of scorching on the walls and the wear-and-tear on the reliefs are indicative of being exposed to the elements. There is some over-growth, which could indicate that the amount of dust and dirt that settled blotted out all vegetation, although the canopy of the trees has begun to drop branches around to reclaim the area. It all seems fairly recent, developmental-wise, speculations beginning at the fifty-year mark and increasing. Then again, you never know with alien planets and fifty-year growth could take millennia."

When she reached the pillar and saw the etched relief, her eyes went wide. "I can see why you think this is an Ancient Outpost," she said, tucking the recorder back into her pocket and running her own fingers over the marks that looked remarkably like the Ancients' style of writing. "But looking at the building itself, I don't think it's an outpost in the sense that you might think."

McKay raised a brow. "I translated a portion of the column, and I'm absolutely positive that this was an Ancient Outpost."

"And by _outpost_ you mean _military stronghold with tactical advantage_ , yes?"

"Well, yes." McKay had his arms crossed over his chest by this point, his eyes narrowed. "What are you getting at?"

"You're a physicist, Dr. McKay. Not an expert in ancient gibberish. You may have mistranslated."

McKay sputtered. "I most certainly did _not-_ "

"Judging by the building itself," Alysia continued, trampling over McKay's reply. "This looks more to be an actual dwelling place, or a place of meeting; possibly even a place of worship. I'm seeing nothing so far that would support _military stronghold with tactical advantage_. That's all I'm saying." She paused to run a finger over the etchings. "And these additional symbols...these are nothing like the standard Ancient text we've seen in the past. They're too swirly. It may indicate that this place belonged to a group who worshipped, were descended from, or lived alongside the Ancients."

McKay's slack-jawed look was comical. Alysia wished she had ready access to her camera to capture it for the rest of the science teams to see. She turned from her superior to address Sheppard, who was busy trying to turn a large stone over with his foot, while glancing around the clearing, up at the sky...the man looked bored. Alysia smiled. "Colonel Sheppard, how much time do we have this trip?" she called out.

Sheppard glanced up at her sharply, as if not expecting to be summoned. He glanced up at the sky once more, this time his focus more intent as he tried to read the light. "I'd say a couple of hours, and then we head back to the ‘Gate to report. If you deem it necessary to remain longer, we can pick up additional supplies then and set up shop here."

Alysia nodded, and then let her eyes play over the column. "Thanks Colonel. I'll get started, then."


	3. Discoveries

Alysia spent several hours snapping digital pictures and capturing video of just about everything. Then, sketchbook in hand, she began to tackle McKay's pillar.

"A scientist with an artistic streak...That's a new one," Sheppard said behind her.

"Hardly," Alysia replied with a smile. "I just like having a personal rendition of any runes I have to translate so I can look back on my first impressions. I'll compare my drawings and interpretations of the symbols I see with the photos I took, later." She tilted the notebook so Sheppard could take a peek.

"Saves you a world of trouble in the case of dropped words from crap images, eh?"

Alysia gave him an impressed look. "Yes, exactly."

Sheppard grinned and moved off to continue his rounds. Alysia had only a few moments of peace before McKay took Sheppard's place at her shoulder. "So," he said, hands jammed in his pockets. "Has the guru of ancient gibberish stumbled upon any breakthroughs yet?"

With a roll of her eyes, she replied, "Yes, actually, I think I might have."

McKay seemed surprised. "Really?" he intoned, crowding her to take a look at her notes. "What sort of breakthrough?"

She yanked the book away from him and took a couple of steps back. "Hey, there is such a thing as personal space, you know!" she said irritably.

"Hey guys, play nice," Sheppard called, striding back towards them. "Don't make me send you to your rooms."

"Oh, you're hilarious." McKay sniffed loftily.

Alysia took a second to calm down before continuing. "Now, as I was saying, yes. I made a breakthrough. It looks like this new script is a direct translation of the Ancient text here." She gestured to the runes in question. "By making a comparison, I think I can possibly make out a crude sort of alphabet with the swirl-symbols."

"Yes, yes. That's all well and good, but what does it _say_?" McKay asked, impatient. "That _is_ why we brought you along, after all."

"We brought her along to do the work of an archaeologist, Rodney," Sheppard replied, stepping into the conversation before the physicist pissed off said archaeologist any further.

"So far, all it _says_ is that this was a place dedicated to an ancient race. The natives or at least the people that built this – for lack of a better word – temple, believed this ancient race to have seeded the night sky with the stars."

"Almost like a creation myth," Sheppard commented.

"Yeah, that's what I'm thinking. Now, based on the depth and wear of the text, it looks like our standard Ancient text was written much, much later than the swirls, which means that the native populace predates them by a good many years."

"How many years, precisely?" McKay asked.

Alysia shrugged. "Without the proper equipment, it'll be hard to tell. But if I had to take a guess, I'd say at least a thousand."

Sheppard let out a low whistle. "That means the Ancients didn't bring the natives here, like they did with most of the other planets."

"Correction," McKay interjected. "The Ancients only brought _humans_ to the worlds they created."

"This means, gentlemen that we are finally dealing with a truly alien race that could very well have been our allies if they had survived."

Sheppard and McKay exchanged a look.

"So," Sheppard ventured, "Did these aliens happen to leave any notes on some cool and interesting toys they might have left behind?"

"I'm working on it," Alysia replied, turning back to the pillar. "See, it looks like the Ancients transcribed everything except this," she pointed to a block of writing. "It's almost like they added the translations so that those with the knowledge could use it as a Rosetta stone, of a sort. Always assuming, of course, that those with the know-how would be allies and that their enemies would be unable to decipher what was written here."

"So once you get that alphabet or whatever working, you'll be able to translate that stuff?" Sheppard asked.

"Yep. It'll take several hours of checking and cross-checking to make absolutely sure my theory is correct, but it shouldn't be an issue for the computers back home to cut the time in half."

"Right, so we head back at our scheduled check-in time and return in the morning."

Alysia nodded and McKay let out a relieved sigh. "Oh, thank God. I hate camping out."

**

"Okay, let's see what we've got here..." Alysia mumbled at the screen. She tapped idly at the keys, waiting for Atlantis's system to run the modifications to the translation matrix. She had been at her computer since the moment they stepped back through the gate, trusting Sheppard's assurances that Dr. Weir wouldn't be upset if the young archaeologist missed the debriefing on the mission to P3M-597. That had been... She glanced at her watch and stifled a yawn. Cripes, that had been over six hours ago.

"Anything interesting?"

Alysia looked up into the smiling face of Atlantis's Administrator, as Elizabeth Weir slid a cup of coffee over to the young woman and pulled up a chair. The archaeologist gave her a tired smile and sighed. "Not yet. I'm just now getting to test the additions I made to the translation matrix on the already transcribed text."

"Ah. So, what are we hoping to translate, if it works?"

"This," Alysia replied, bringing up another window:

Elizabeth skimmed the text a few times, clearly baffled. "Well, I'll bite. And if Sheppard informed me correctly, you say that this text _pre-dates_ the Ancients?"

"It does. But that's going solely on the fact that the carvings were less...new. They looked a lot more weather-worn than the chiselled Ancient runes that we found with it. So it's either a more primitive and artistic off-shoot of the Ancients, or another race entirely."

Elizabeth raised a brow at that. "Oh? And here McKay has been going on that this was an alien race."

"Well, that was my first impression, but as I was going over my data, something struck me; why would the Ancients go through all the trouble of transcribing portions of old, alien runes and not drop anything about them in the database, unless the aliens in question were the Ancients themselves?"

"Which would make a sort of sense, when you think of it," Elizabeth mused. "Every other friendly race out there is in the database, why would they omit these people? Especially if these aliens were worshipers of the Ancients, and believed them to be the creators of the heavens."

"Precisely. Now, if you don't call them aliens, and instead label them as the Elders of the Ancients, the generations that preceded the Ancients we keep reading about, then it makes perfect sense to leave them out of the database to protect the origins of the Ancestors."

"But why transcribe their own runes, then?"

"Why convert Old English poems into Modern English?" Alysia gave Elizabeth a bemused smile.

The elder woman smiled back and nodded. "Point taken. They wanted to preserve the records on-site and not risk anyone hacking their database to find...whatever it is they left behind."

"And they only translated enough for their descendants to be able to do what we're doing right now."

At that moment, the computer beeped and drew both women from their speculation. Alysia skimmed through some data and frowned. "Damn. So close, yet so far away."

"Didn't work?"

"Not exactly. I ran the Ancient text through the matrix to verify my own translation, and I was fairly accurate. This? This is a hack-job that would have McKay in tears."

Elizabeth let out a slightly stifled giggle. "I'll leave you to it, then. And just ping me when you run out of coffee and I'll send McKay down with more."

Alysia beamed. "Will do! I bet the rest of the Science Department will pay to see McKay reduced to such servitude."

Elizabeth's parting remark was simply, "Oh, Sheppard's already sold a bunch of tickets to the event..."

The young archaeologist dissolved in a fit of giggles, her frustration with her lack of progress finally forgotten for a brief moment.

**

P3M-597 was unchanged since their last visit, and the ruins were just as Alysia remembered them. Only Ronon and Teyla accompanied her this time, since spending a full day on-planet unmolested went a long way to convincing Sheppard that he didn't have to tag along. Alysia was sure that the majority of convincing came from the monumental boredom the colonel had experienced on his previous visits, more than anything. The young archaeologist was confident in the skills of her companions, and two warriors were always better than one. At least the Athosian and the Satedan would have someone to talk to while Alysia worked.

Alysia walked the ruins with her notebook and rubbing kit under one arm, and a digital camera slung around her neck, looking for more of the strange, Ancient text. She made a rubbing of the pillar she had taken the original sampling from, and scoured the rest of the structure for the tell-tale swirls of writing. Finding none, she walked the outside of the dilapidated building, eyes running over each surface carefully. It was her hope that the pillar wasn't the only notepad the Ancients had employed, and that further translations and comparisons would give her a broader database to work with.

The first time she was here, she was so concerned with getting that pillar properly documented; Alysia did the bare minimum to everything else. She idly wondered if she should radio back to Atlantis and get a proper archaeology team out here to quarter and comb the place. ...That wasn't such a bad idea, actually. Feeling her cheeks flush at the complete inability to remember proper procedure, Alysia gave the wall one last pat and then headed off to find her escort.

**

"You look happy," John said as he entered the control room. McKay was sitting behind his usual console, laptop open and working contentedly.

"Of course I'm happy," the scientist replied. "I'm sitting behind a desk on Atlantis working on my laptop instead of being on some God-forsaken alien planet riddled with strange sunlight."

John rolled his eyes and continued on towards Elizabeth's office. He didn't get very far before Chuck's cry of "Unscheduled off-world activation!" accompanied the ‘Gate as the chevrons began to lock. John noted Elizabeth's arrival in the back of his mind as he strode towards the little observation balcony that jutted out a few paces to overlook the embarkation floor. John gripped the handrail, bracing himself as Chuck added "Incoming signal; Lorne's IDC."

John pushed off the railing and turned back to the control room as the radio crackled with Lorne's voice.

 _"Atlantis, this is Major Lorne. I just got word from one of my men that the villagers here saw a man bearing Michael's description in the woods while on a hunting trip two days ago."_

Everyone in the control room exchanged a look.

"Any indication that he might still be on-planet?" John asked.

 _"Not yet, Sir. We didn't want to go mucking about in the woods without back-up. Figured that if Michael was out there, he might have been here long enough to set up traps."_

"You made the right call, Major," Elizabeth piped in. "I'll have Colonel Sheppard assemble a team to give you hand."

 _"Roger that, ma'am. Major Lorne out."_

The wormhole disengaged as the call terminated, and John gave Elizabeth a pained look. "If Michael is out there..."

"Be careful," was all Elizabeth said to that. John nodded and looked significantly at McKay. The scientist did a double-take, eyes going wide before his shoulders slumped in defeat.

"Right," McKay muttered as he pushed away from the console and unplugged his laptop. "Gearing up, then."

**

The quiet ruins of P3M-597 were crawling with a make-shift team of appropriated scientists. The roped off grid was set in four-feet by four-feet squares, with two people assigned to each square. Ronon and Teyla were now accompanied by three Marines to accommodate the increase in personnel. Alysia spent her time between helping out in her designated area and walking around and hovering over everyone else. This was the first dig that she had ever been in charge of, and she was a little nervous about doing a good job. And when she added the fact that she was working with people who knew nothing about archaeological practices it made her a little twitchy. Hence the hovering.

She had lost count of the number of times that she had abandoned meticulous work of scraping away debris for restless pacing of the site, the gesture having become absent routine. It wasn't until Teyla finally intercepted her during one of those circuits that she realized that she had done it again.

The Athosian's presence was soothing and all at once commanding, and Alysia could envision the leader that Teyla was to her people. Teyla fell into step with the young archaeologist, and very subtly guided her steps away from the group at large. The Athosian said nothing until they were out of earshot.

"Is everything alright?" Teyla asked.

"Yes. ...No. I just..." Alysia trailed off with a sigh. "This is my first dig. I mean, not my first dig, since I've been on several..."

"You have never been in charge of one before?"

Alysia could feel her cheeks flush. "Yeah. I'm used to being one of them," she replied, gesturing at the others.

"Perhaps you would set them more at ease if you continued to be one of them?" Teyla suggested. "It would show your confidence in their abilities, surely?"

"Oh, it's not their abilities that I question. Well, no, I do, since they're not archaeologists, but...it's my ability that I question, more. I know I've got the qualifications, but having credentials on paper and actually putting them to use..."

"Those credentials simply mean that you can do the job better than anyone else. You should therefore lead them by example and the rest will fall into place. They are scientists, and value the expansion of their knowledge. Allow them to learn from you."

"Right." Alysia noticed that Teyla had brought them back around, and the conversation concluded just before they stepped back into range. With a wry smile and a tiny wave, Alysia headed back to her spot and got back to work, leaving Teyla to rejoin the guards as they monitored the perimeter.

***

"Find anything, Major?" John asked quietly into his radio. He and McKay were walking the perimeter of the village while the Colonel checked in with the teams in the field.

 _"Nothing yet, Sir,"_ Lorne replied. _"We followed the directions the hunters gave us and found a clearing that may or may not have been used recently. I sent Hudson and his team farther up the path while we searched the area."_

"Right, keep me posted. Sheppard out." John sighed softly and came to a stop. McKay gave him a slightly pained look.

"Another wild goose chase?"

"It's looking like. Let's head back into the village. See if anyone in the market knows anything."

*

The market was modest in size, John noted, but that wasn't unusual for a settlement of this size. The population of M8I-494, or Erenis, according to the Ancient database, was twice the size of the Athosians, if that. As most of the stalls belonged to the locals, John could only surmise that the patrons were from off-world, drawn by whatever the Erenians had to offer.

"Whaddya wanna bet that if Michael was here, he managed to sneak off-world with a group of tourists?" John asked, off-handed.

"Probably very likely," McKay replied, eyes darting around the market suspiciously as they cut through the crowd. "There haven't been any reports of missing persons, which may have indicated a Wraith hiding out on-planet."

"And there've been no bodies found, either. So if he was here, it wasn't for very long." John keyed his radio. "Lorne, this is Sheppard. Give your men another thirty minutes and then fall back to the ‘Gate if they don't find anything. Mikey's probably long gone by now."

 _"Acknowledged."_

"So where does that leave us?" McKay asked once John had finished his call to Lorne.

"We ask a few questions and then get the hell out of here. I'm not wasting any more time. Let's split up; it'll go faster."

"I was afraid you'd say that."

John rolled his eyes and peeled off from his friend, choosing a row of stalls to look at first. He stopped at each one, opening with a greeting, a bit of pretend-browsing and then a casual inquiry about strange events happening as of late. With each negative response, the pointlessness of his canvassing grew exponentially.

The only hitch came as he pretend-browsed on the last booth; a bit of scroll-work on a strange-looking pendant caught his eye as it glinted in the sun. He carefully picked it up and looked it over.

The clasp that the delicate chain threaded through was a pale gold; attached was an oddly cut piece of precious metal, the left edge curved in a perfect half-circle. The very edge of the curve was the same gold as the clasp. The rest was a silvery-colour, and the entire disc was hammered flat. The right edge was all strange angles, though the cuts were smooth, as if the design were intentional and not merely the result of a broken piece of jewellery. The bottom of the curve jutted out in a narrow arm, slightly apart from the body of the work. In the center was a clear, blue crystal. Like the disc that held it, the left side was perfectly curved while the right was exposed with the silver disc on either side. The slight bump that connected the curve of the stone to the disc matched the outer edge in pale gold.

John ran his finger over the irregular angles, noting the smooth transition from metal to stone and back to metal; he traced the scrollwork, noticing distinct similarities between some of the whorls and the letters of the Ancient text that Alysia was currently trying to decipher back on Atlantis. He looked up at the merchant, who was watching him with a keen eye.

"How much?" Sheppard asked, without thinking about it. Thanks to Teyla and Ronon, he had about a dozen different viable trade currencies in one of his pockets, and he hoped that this planet used one of them.

"One hundred gold flecks," the merchant replied.

After a quick mental calculation in which John's outward appearance didn't change from his seemingly preoccupied inspection, he countered with, "twenty-five."

"Ninety," came the rapid counter-offer.

"Thirty."

"Seventy."

John looked up, slightly bemused. "Forty-five."

The merchant regarded the colonel for a long moment before shrugging his consent. John fished the amount out of his pocket and handed it over as quickly as he could. With a smile and a partial salute, John pocketed and secured the pendant as he walked away. He couldn't wait to see Alysia's face when he presented her with his gift.

**

Alysia had no idea how much time had gone by since she and Teyla had had their little chat; all she could tell was that that they were starting to lose daylight and nothing of any significance had been found. A few broken piece of unremarkable pottery and more pieces of the building were piled up neatly to one side, all properly photographed, and catalogued and ready to be packed up for transport.

Alysia sat back on her haunches and wiped the sweat off her brow with the back of her arm. She, like everyone else on her team, was covered in dust and debris. The thoughts of a very long, hot shower were starting to become viable distractions and that was how Alysia knew it was time to call a wrap up to the day's work. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly, gazing out at the hunched over bodies of the others as they continued to work.

Before Alysia could say anything, however, a triumphant cry came from one of the others. Alysia jumped up, showers and growing fatigue forgotten as she half-stumbled over to the scientist – a man called Jefferson – who had called out. Kicking up a minor dust cloud, Alysia was the first to get to the roped off section, with everyone else behind her. They all watched as Jefferson carefully swept away the sand with his brush to uncover the top of a small rectangular case made of a dark metal.

Alysia couldn't help herself; she inched closer and helped Jefferson dig away with her hands, trying to get the case out as quickly and as safely as possible. She only paused long enough once they had uncovered it for someone else to photo-catalogue its position in the ruins for their records, and then Jefferson was lifting his find out of its hole. He turned it over in his hands, allowing more photos to be taken, before he found the catch and opened it. He smiled at the sight of its contents, and then turned the box to show Alysia.

**

John sat in his customary spot in the conference room, with his team arrayed around the table in their usual spots, and Alysia and Elizabeth sitting next to each other as their focus of attention. Team Sheppard didn't have a chance to change out of their gear when they returned from Erenis; Elizabeth had called them into the briefing room moments after the ‘Gate had shut down.

Alysia looked bouncy and accomplished, Elizabeth had the air she carried when a major victory had been won, and Teyla and Ronon just looked bemused; John had to assume that something had been found in the Ancient ruins. The usual monitors were hooked up to Alysia's laptop, but the screens were currently dark.

"Tell me you found something," John asked. Elizabeth smiled at him.

"We've always known the Ancients as the Gate-Builders and the ancestors of our people. They were the ones who seeded the galaxies with their race and left us a legacy that we can't even hope to completely uncover in our lifetime." Elizabeth paused to make sure she had everyone's undivided attention before continuing. "Today, we may have taken concrete steps towards discovering the origins of our ancient relatives, and finding out how old our race truly is."

"We kept uncovering pieces of generic pottery and stone slabs from the building," Alysia added. "That is, until Jefferson hit something in his area of the grid."

John watched as the young archaeologist stood and flipped on the monitors. John sat up and leaned forward as a little black box appeared on the screen in a three-dimensional image that slowly rotated to show off every angle. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught McKay sitting up a little, too.

McKay pointed at the screen. "That almost looks like it's made out of..."

"Naquadah," Alysia finished. She smiled. "But not pure naquadah. Zelenka ran it through every test he could think of, and while it contains naquadah, it also contains other impurities and has a quite different molecular structure." She reached down and hit a few keys on her laptop. "We think that, whatever this material is, it is the original source of naquadah in the galaxy. Kind of like aluminum oxide is the main source of aluminum on Earth."

"So the Ancients simply adapted their usage as they got better at extracting the naquadah from the ore?" John asked.

"For all we know, this mineral is the natural ore of naquadah on many planets. By the time our Ancients arrived to these planets, they had sufficient technology to extract naquadah from the mineral and they found that their methods of utilizing it didn't have to change all that much from what they were already doing."

"Until they really learned how to use it," McKay added thoughtfully.

"Exactly," Alysia agreed. "However, what really solidifies the link is what we found inside." She pressed another couple of buttons on her laptop and an image of a pendant appeared on the screen.

John blinked a few times as his brain registered the image, and he felt the cold wash of adrenaline pump through his body. There was no way that what he was seeing was possible.

The pendant was very much like the one he found on Erenis, only the curvature of the circle was on the right side, and the angled edges looked like they would fit very nicely with the one currently in his pocket. He didn't say anything, however, because he wanted to talk to Alysia alone, now more than ever.

"It's made out of the same material as the box, though the method of craftsmanship has given it a different colouring," Alysia was saying, as her voice brought him out of his shocked reverie. He was surprised to see that no one had noticed his reaction.

Then she looked at McKay with a slightly feral grin. "Not only is the scroll work consistent with the writing I found, but it seems that this compound was the source of all naquadah used in just about every single piece of Ancient tech, from the DHD crystals right down to the ones in the shield emitters."

John watched Rodney's eyes go wide. "Give it to me. I want to perform some tests." he asked.

Rodney quickly took two small samples of the compound Alysia held out to him. He went over to two sophisticated pieces of equipment and placed one sample in each instrument. Bemused, Alysia and John watched as Rodney tapped away at the terminals of the two instruments then started pacing across the room.

The two instruments simultaneously let out a ping. Rodney immediately took his seat and looked at the screen. "Yes," he exclaimed. "This compound contains naquadah."

Alysia's grin widened as she played what seemed to be her trump card in getting onto McKay's list of people he didn't hate: "I kept coming across references in the database files as I was re-categorizing them that made no sense; they all spoke of some ore that was linked to their technological development, which I found odd because I knew of their penchant for naquadah. After Zelenka gave me his test results, I dug the files out again and looked them over. Turns out it those files document the changes in the mining and extraction techniques as they developed over the years, including the processes used to refine and create these crystals. Apparently, a few impurities are then added to this pure naquadah to give it the ability to conduct electricity and data. This is the crystal that works in the tech. It is exactly analogous to our silicon based computer technology, where we add some impurities to increase the conductivity of the silicon. But it seems that this doped naquadah is much much superior to our sili  
con! And now that we have the blueprints for the chemical transformations, we should be able to ..."

"Synthesize a whole new series of naquadah-based electronics and 'Gate components," McKay finished, unable to suppress his excitement at the prospect. "Oh, this is definitely going to get me my Noble Prize ... if the work ever gets declassified ... I need to research this more....where are the papers..."

McKay snatched a flash drive that Alysia produced from her pocket and then gathered up the samples and all his notes.

Elizabeth seemed to take that as her cue to dismiss them all, and everyone followed a very excited McKay out of the room. John took his time and waited for everyone to clear out, glad that Alysia was hanging back to unhook all her equipment. Once they were alone, he walked up to her and perched on the side of the table as he watched her wrap up.

"Everything okay, Colonel?" she asked, glancing up at him.

"John, please," he replied.

"John, then."

"You don't happen to have that pendant on you, do you?"

"As a matter of fact, I do," she said. She put down the power cord she had been winding around her arm. Reaching into her pocket, she produced the piece of jewellery. "Zelenka allowed me to bring it, in case the images weren't enough and someone wanted to see it for real."

John looked down at it as she held it out to him. It was definitely the correct size, but there was only one way to find out if it was the correct shape.

"I have a feeling that you're not the only one who'll have made a new friend today," he said. At her questioning look he smiled. "While McKay and I were on Erenis looking for Michael, I found this in the market."

He pulled out his pendant and showed it to her. The look on her face was every bit as excited as he had hoped, and then some. They placed their hands side-by-side, each half of the pendant cradled in a palm.

"Why do you suppose they were separated?" John asked.

"I don't know," Alysia admitted. "Maybe something happens when they're put together?" She looked up at him with a mischievous look. John returned the look with a knowing smile.

"Elizabeth will kill us if this is something explosive," he warned.

"Since when has that ever stopped you?"

"Good point. On three then?"

"On three."

They both picked up their pendant halves and held them at the ready.

"One," John started.

"Two."

As they both said the word, "three," they moved the halves together, easily combining them to create a single, whole circular pendant. As the edges touched, a bright, blinding flash that reminded John of Atlantis' transporters assailed him, and the conference room blinked out of existence.

**

As the light cleared, Alysia realized that she had shut her eyes against its intense brightness, and now the flare had returned to a normal subdued orange behind her lids. A dull throb rebounded off her temples in slow waves, and her throat and mouth were parched. Her body felt like she had just gone twenty round with Ronon, and that caused her to moan softly as she stirred. A cool sensation spread across her forehead and her eyes fluttered open. She squinted against the light until it was blocked by someone leaning over her; in the slight shadow of the other person, she was able to make out the lines of clothing.

"Easy there, love," said the soothing tones of Carson's Scottish brogue. "I'm bettin' that y've got one monster of a headache."

Alysia put a hand to her head as the doctor helped her sit up a little higher on the cot. She blinked rapidly to clear her vision, and she looked around the infirmary, clearly confused. "What happened?" she asked. The words prompted a minor coughing fit, which was soothed with a cool glass of water that Carson pressed to her lips.

"You and Colonel Sheppard were thrown across the conference room; being closest to the wall, you hit a fair bit harder than the Colonel did when he landed."

At the mention of Colonel Sheppard, Alysia glanced around to look for him. She found him straddling the cot directly across from her, dressed in civilian garb and sporting a new set of stitches across his cheek bone. He gave her a wave and a hint of a smile as she caught his eye.

"How did –"

"Putting those pendants together was...explosive," Sheppard explained ruefully. "Though luckily the only thing affected were you and me."

The memory of what had happened came back in a rush and Alysia felt a little panicked. "The pendant, where...?"

Sheppard's hand gesture in her direction caught her eye, and it was then that she felt the weight of it hanging around her neck. She tugged the chain out from the medical tunic and held the pendant half in her palm. When she looked back up at Sheppard, he had already pulled his out from under his shirt, in anticipation of her next question.

"Seems that the pendants imprinted on you and Colonel Sheppard," Carson continued, "which is not uncommon with some of the security protocols the Ancients had in place on some of their equipment. None of the medical teams could take them away from you."

"I was the only one that could put it around your neck," Sheppard added. "Of course, the clasp fused together almost as soon as the two ends touched; can't get them off." He tried and failed to tug the chain apart to demonstrate.

"And that's not all," Carson said. His tone had Alysia looking at him suspiciously.

"What do you mean?" she asked, still trying to process all the information.

"Seems the new friend thing was a little more literal than I expected," Sheppard said with a slight wince. "I figured I'd be your BFF for finding it in the first place, but now I can't go more than, oh, ten feet away from you without getting burned by the pendant."

"I take it ‘burned' is just as literal?" Alysia wondered aloud.

With a rueful look, Sheppard undid the top three buttons of his shirt to expose the bottom of his throat and a slight tuft of chest hair. A faded burn mark had replaced some of the hair, and marred the skin underneath the chain. Alysia's eyes went wide and her gaze dropped back down to the pendant in her palm.

Alysia's fingers probed her own neck, and she winced with quiet _"ow."_

Beckett gave her an apologetic look. "Colonel Sheppard is lucky that he got back here in time; the skin on both your necks will heal and the marks will eventually fade, but it could have been much worse if he hadn't come back to the infirmary to see me about it."

Sheppard re-buttoned his shirt as he picked up the narrative, "Had to walk past you to get to Carson, and when I got close, the burning sensation stopped. Been here ever since."

"And how long _have_ I been here?" Alysia asked.

Carson answered her, "Several days. Like I said, you took quite a knock to the head. Was a little touch and go for a while there."

"If the way my head feels now is any indication, I believe it," she said, sinking back into the soft pillow. Carson smiled down at her and smoothed the hair off of her forehead.

"Well, rest up, lass. Keepin'ye another day or so and then you'll be back to work in no time."

Alysia smiled up at the doctor as he left and then turned to Sheppard. "Sorry about all of this, Colonel," she said ruefully.

He shrugged and scooted back onto his cot, stretching his legs out in front of him. He picked up the Nintendo DS that was sitting on the table next to him and turned it on. "Don't worry about it," he replied, pulling the stylus out. "Just another day in the Pegasus galaxy." Sheppard winked at her before getting lost in his game and Alysia closed her eyes and settled in for a nap.


	4. Changes

Alysia sat on the bed in her new room next to Sheppard's quarters and looked around. It was very similar to how her usual quarters were set up when she had first arrived on Atlantis: bare with a bed, dresser, night stand and a small table and two chairs. Her duffle was on the floor by her feet, filled with enough supplies to last her throughout the week. Carson had kept her and Sheppard over night in the infirmary two more nights than was necessary. It took Alysia threatening to trek dusty, dirty artefacts into the doc's pristinely sterile domain for him to finally relent and agree that his two charges could be set loose upon the city.

Thankfully the quarters right next door to Sheppard's were free, and they figured that they should be fine in terms of keeping within proximity. They were both off the duty roster as far as daily duties went, however Alysia planned on keeping up with the reports that came in from the dig site each night; she hoped to find something to help them sooner rather than later.

Deciding to start unpacking, Alysia picked up her duffle and started pulling stuff out. She folded the clothes into the drawers and then gathered her toiletries. She got two feet away from the bed when she started feeling the slight sting around her neck. A few more steps and the sting began to really bite into her skin. With a soft curse, she retraced her steps until she was back on the bed. Scooting closer to the wall, she pounded on it with an open palm.

She didn't have long to wait before the door chime went off, and she hurried to the door. Predictably, Sheppard stood there, looking down at her ruefully.

"This isn't gonna work, is it?" he asked.

"I'm thinking not."

"Guess we're gonna hafta be roomies."

Alysia's shoulders sagged and she gestured over her shoulder with her thumb. "Guess I'll grab my things, then."

**

Several hours later, John led Alysia into their new quarters. The room was one that the Expedition members had speculated to belong to whatever family units had lived in the city before the war with the Wraith forced them to retreat. The washroom was larger, there was room for a living room, dining area _and_ a small kitchen-esque area, and all of it was fully furnished. The queen-sized bed that had occupied the side of the room designated as the sleeping area had been replaced with two twin-sized cots.

John tossed his bag onto one of the empty beds, claiming it as his. A delicate cough drew his attention to Alysia's arched expression. She didn't look happy about his bed-snagging.

"What?" he asked puzzled.

"Why that bed?"

John blinked and looked between the cot and the archaeologist. "Because it's a bed and I don't rightfully care where I sleep so long as I...you know, sleep?"

"But you took the one closest to the washroom."

"So?"

Alysia shrugged. "Wouldn't you rather have the other bed, so that if we were attacked you'd be closer to the door and unencumbered by the obstacle of another cot?"

John just stared at her. He was pretty sure his jaw was hanging open, too, but his mind was a little too preoccupied with trying to process the conversation. Further puzzlement was added when he saw the corner of her lip twitch.

"You little..." he trailed off, peering at her. Her mouth broke into a grin and she started to chuckle.

"Sorry. I couldn't resist. You can have that bed. No problem."

He glared at her for a moment more, but there was no ire in the expression. He just felt foolish at falling for her prank. He made a mental note to get her back.

**

"Johnny Cash, _again?!_ " Alysia protested with a pout. She and Sheppard had been living together for almost a week now, and their mandatory downtime was half-way complete. During that time, they had spent the afternoons decorating their shared room with bits and pieces chosen from each of their personal quarters. The result was a slightly eclectic blend of shared and opposing tastes that each had pronounced capable of being lived with for the time being.

They were currently curled up on opposite sides of the couch, lost in the pages of their respective books.

"What's wrong with Johnny Cash?"

"Nothing! But you listen to it almost incessantly!"

"Do not."

"This is the third time through your entire catalogue of Johnny Cash, _today_. Please put something else on!"

"Fine, what do _you_ want to listen to?"

Alysia sighed in relief as Sheppard put his book down, and reached over to pause the music piping from his laptop. "You got anything classical in there?"

"Johnny Cash _is_ classical," he muttered, poking around his playlists. After a few moments, the lilting notes of Bach filled the room and Sheppard looked up at her with a tiny pout. "Better?"

"Yes, much," Alysia said, burying her nose back in her book. The music filled the silence for several minutes before Alysia realized that Sheppard hadn't resumed reading and was regarding her curiously. "What?" she asked, glancing at him over the book.

"Nothing," he replied. "Just wondering what you're reading."

"Oh, uh...." Alysia blushed a little and turned her cover so he could see. Sheppard blessed her with his goofy grin as _The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy_ was revealed on the front cover of her book.

"Awesome," he breathed. "Knew I liked you for a reason."

"What're you reading?" she asked. Seeing _War and Peace_ on the cover of his book had her raising a brow. "Seriously?"

"Yeah. I switch it up with comic books, to keep me sane."

"Why does that not surprise me?" Alysia laughed. She marked her place and put the book down on the floor next to her. "Tell me your favourite comics, then."

Sheppard shrugged. "I like'em all, but I'm partial to the Fantastic Four, Spider Man...that sort of stuff."

Alysia gave him a curious look. "Yeah, you strike me as the Johnny Storm type."

"Hey, I'm Mr. Fantastic."

"No, McKay would be Mr. Fantastic."

Sheppard pouted again. "How do you figure? _I'm_ the group leader."

"Yeah, but you're not the genius scientist. That's McKay. Hence, Mr. Fantastic. You're the cocky hotshot who likes schmoozing with the ladies. Ergo, Johnny Storm."

Alysia grinned as she watched Sheppard's jaw drop. He snapped it shut a moment later and shook his head. "Point. But I will never admit that in public."

"Fair enough," Alysia said with a chuckle as she retrieved her book. After another moment of silence, they both returned to their books and let Bach fill in the soundtracks to the stories.

**

Being bound to Alysia had been fun for the first two weeks. She had been a refreshing change in companions for John, and her social circle had expanded from the few friends she confessed to having in the science department to include John and his team. Even McKay had grudgingly accepted her into the fold at mealtimes, and for all intents and purposes, things were progressing well. Alysia would sit on the sidelines reading her book while John sparred with either Teyla or Ronon. He had even managed to coax her off the bench to learn a couple of moves from Teyla, with the admonishment that it never hurt to know how to protect oneself.

The un-fun bits of being bound to Alysia started when it came time to form up the duty rosters for the next month. John had been hoping to take his team on a couple of recon missions to assess the Wraith situation, but every time he tried to put them into a slot for off-world duty, he'd glance up and see Alysia, her proximity a violent reminder of the limitations that were now imposed upon him. With Alysia being the only trained archaeologist on Atlantis, she was required to over-see the dig site to ensure that proper procedure was being followed. John didn't understand a lot of the technical stuff, but from what he gleaned it seemed that screwing up during these early stages could completely ruin anything useful that they found.

He really hated sending his team out without him, but it couldn't be helped. John needed to be with Alysia and his team needed to keep up with their duties. However, after the third mission in which Teyla, Ronon and McKay returned under heavy fire, John gave up and assigned them all to permanent babysitting duty with him on P3M-597.

Predictably, McKay was the first to announce his displeasure, but Alysia won the scientist over with some newly deciphered information on naquadah refinement. So long as she kept feeding him bits of information, McKay was happy. Teyla and Ronon were another matter entirely. The grumbling and death glares John got from them didn't faze him. When they tried to broach the topic with him, John would merely look his would-be-assailant in the eye and pronounce the judgement that, if _he_ had to suffer, _they_ had to suffer as well.

Not that sitting under a weird-ass sun with funky radiation while he got to peruse whatever comic book he could stuff into a spare pocket was really suffering, but if he listened to McKay about that radiation thing, then all this time out here was probably not doing them any good. John simply reminded himself that he had been exposed to far worse over the course of the last two or so years, and that he really shouldn't worry too much.

From his spot leaning against a wall at the top of a small staircase, he could see the entire expanse of the ruin's interior. It was still crawling with scientists that had been pulled off regular duties – and most notably by one archaeologist, who was currently hunched over her own hole in the ground – as they unearthed more relics that carried absolutely no significance whatsoever outside of simply being preserved bits of history that belonged in Ancient-101.

Now that the initial flurry of a new dig site had stabilized, there were only five people to contend with at any given time, with rotations occurring with every six-hour check-in. Alysia's team of eight on a four-man rotation, along with Team Sheppard, and an additional Marine unit were the day shift. A similar set-up existed for the night shift, as they worked around the clock to expedite a solution to the whole pendant problem.

While Team Sheppard patrolled the perimeter, the Marine unit was split with two men guarding the ‘Gate and the other two supplementing Team Sheppard; every two hours, the Marines stationed at the ruins would walk the path back to the ‘Gate and send the guards back to the camp to switch jobs.

Alysia stayed on-site all day, supervising both morning and afternoon shifts, while she divided up her time between getting her hands dirty, doodling in her sketch book, and working on her laptop.

John sat on his step and tried to amuse himself as much as he could. He'd get up every so often to stretch his legs and check in with the others, always keeping within a ten-foot radius of Alysia. Although it was a chore to find a position that was comfortable; no matter how he twisted, John was sure that some hunk of rock was going to dig into him in some unpleasant way. The ground was too uneven to bring camp chairs, and even if they could, Alysia was paranoid that they'd accidentally crush something under the chair's feet.

Sitting on the staircase reading comics interspersed with restless pacing had been the extent of his days since returning to active duty. This meant that the motion in the corner of John's eye of Alysia standing up to stretch no longer registered in his peripheral vision, so when a bottle of water attached to Alysia's hand suddenly materialized in front of him he looked up from his comic book with a tiny start. John ignored the triumphant little grin that played over the archaeologist's face as he took the bottle gratefully.

"How's it going?" he asked as she sat down next to him. He offered her the water after taking a swig, but she waved him off in favour of wiping a handkerchief over her forehead.

"It's going about as well as can be expected. Haven't found anything that helps me right off the bat, but what we are finding is stuff that can hopefully be compiled into usable data."

John drank another mouthful of water and then capped the bottle with a sigh. "In other words, we're not packing it in anytime soon."

"Not unless we find something big, no."

"Great," he replied, his expression wry.

"Yeah." Alysia held out her hand for the bottle and John handed it over. She drank several mouthfuls before handing it back. They allowed the faint scrapes and scratching of the dig lull them into a companionable silence for a while, work and comic forgotten for the time being.

Before the warm air and serenity of their surroundings could make the moment complete, the silence was interrupted by a burst of static from John's radio.

**

Majors Calway and Felan stood toeing the ground around the DHD. Where Team Sheppard was required to be on-planet day-in-day-out, the additional Marine units were assigned to guard-duty on a rotational basis. This was the pair's third time in the rotation since Alysia and her team has set up permanent residence.

"Glad we don't have to be here every goddamn day," Calway remarked.

"No kidding," Felan replied. "I'm happy for the vacation post, but this would totally get old really fast. I don't envy the Colonel's team right now."

Calway snorted. "No kidding. You see Ronon when they get back at dinner? Looks like he could rip the entire planet apart with his bare hands, he's so bored and frustrated."

"I wonder what keeps him from tearing into Sheppard?"

"No idea. I know I wouldn't be able to keep quiet if I were forced to be here."

"Yeah. What's our time like?"

Calway checked his watch. "Noko and Cors are due in ten."

Felan looked around the clearing. "Ain't nothing here but us and the ‘Gate. Wanna go meet'em?"

"Sure, it'll give us a head-start on getting back to camp," Calway said, taking point. "Plus it gives us a few extra minutes to check out the dig team."

Felan shook his head with a knowing grin. "You mean check out Ornil."

"That's what I said. Girl's practically the entire dig team on her own, the way she works." Calway's comment lost resonance as they stepped across the tree-line, the foliage absorbing the sound.

"She's cute," Felan agreed with a shrug. "Though you'd have to get around Sheppard if you wanted a shot at her."

"Yeah. Any idea on why the two of'em are attached at the hip?"

"Nope. They've been like that ever since both their teams came back from their respective missions a couple weeks back. Maybe they've hooked up? She is a civvie, after all. No complications."

Calway was about to respond when the sound of the ‘Gate engaging stopped him. Felan nearly bumped into his companion, and they both exchanged a look. "Atlantis calling to check in?" Calway asked.

"Since when has that happened during this mission?"

"Right." Calway keyed his radio. "Noko, Cors, this is Calway. We have gate activity."

 _"On our way."_

Calway and Felan doubled back to the ‘Gate, stopping several feet away from the tree-line. As the wormhole engaged, Noko and Cors came skidding in next to Calway and Felan, and the four waited with baited breath for a comm-call that would never come. Instead, they dove for cover as a Wraith dart emerged from the shimmering puddle, and Calway had just enough time to key his radio again and get off a warning before he hit the ground.

"Dart incoming. Repeat Wraith dart incoming!"

**

Alysia turned as Sheppard abruptly sprang to his feet. Teyla, Ronon and McKay materialized from wherever they had gotten off to, looking panicked. Alysia didn't have a long time to wonder what was going on, as the colonel began barking orders.

"Everyone move it," he bellowed, drawing annoyed glances from the others. Their annoyance burned away as Sheppard added, "We have Wraith incoming."

The entire camp seemed to move as one, each team member picking up only their notebooks and leaving the rest of the gear as they all clamoured for the tree line and the cover it provided. In the distance, the dart could be heard; by the increasing sound of the engine whine, it was evident that it would be upon them in no time at all.

Ronon, Teyla and McKay each scattered, Teyla and McKay each taking one scientist with them, while Ronon took the other two. Alysia stuck close to Sheppard, knowing that they were bound to each other no matter what. She batted away tree branches and stray leaves knocked loose from Sheppard's flight through the forest with her arms, trying to protect her face; everything rushed past in a blur of green and dull brown eddies, Sheppard's dark form the only constant bobbing in front of her.

Alysia ran heedlessly, her only concern keeping the colonel in sight. She was so focussed on simply keeping up that she didn't notice Sheppard's gait change as he descended out of view; her foot failed to find solid ground underneath her as the terrain abruptly dipped into a steep hill and the archaeologist lost her balance. Half-sliding, half-rolling, her descent was less than graceful. Alysia was certain that she collected a fair amount of the forest in her hair and clothing by the time she came to a jarring stop at the bottom.

She didn't have time to check if anything was broken, as the sound of the dart and its culling beam was louder than ever, and Sheppard was instantly at her side and hauling her to her feet.

"You okay?" he asked, slightly breathless.

She nodded, gulping down air. "Yeah."

"Good, keep going." Sheppard nudged her forward and Alysia began running again, ignoring a twinge of pain in her ankle. She hadn't gone far, however, when she felt Sheppard slam into her back, sending the pair of them sprawling into the underbrush. Half a second later, the whine of an alien engine heralded a bright flash of light, and for the second time in as many months Alysia found her world winked out of existence in brilliant radiance.


	5. Complications

Elizabeth Weir sat in her office, going over Alysia's language files in a bid to try and help with the translation of the pillar text. It was Elizabeth's hope that her experience with the Ancient's language would help her to see a connection to the pre-dated text that might be missed by a computer's translation matrix. She was even willing to bet that this was the reason nothing had been forthcoming in terms of a solid, accurate translation, and that Alysia's modifications to the matrix just weren't picking up a nuance or six.

Twice a day since the young archaeologist had set up the permanent dig site on P3M-597, Elizabeth received updates from the day's discoveries to incorporate into her notes. The stack of papers and data disks had been steadily growing and was beginning to rival Elizabeth's normal workload. She didn't mind, since it gave her a break from the monotony of running the city. Then again, monotony was probably the wrong word to use; ever since they had set foot in the Pegasus galaxy each day had brought forth a new flurry of problems, both fantastical and life-threatening. Each discovery covered the spectrum from the purely mundane to the epitome of the only-found-in-science-fiction-esque.

Either way, sitting with the pillar text gracing her tablet computer's screen was as close to relaxing on the job as Elizabeth got, and it provided a small oasis in the unrelenting maelstrom that had become her life. If it wasn't the Wraith, it was the Genii. And if it wasn't the Genii, then it was the city itself; if it wasn't the city, it was this damnable planet.

Elizabeth slid the tablet onto her desk and scrubbed her hands over her face with a sigh. She was starting to go cross-eyed from staring at the recalcitrant text, and decided it was time for a break. She pushed away from her desk and stood in one fluid motion. She rolled the kinks out of her shoulders as she exited the office and traversed the short bridge that connected to the main control room. She smiled at Chuck as he looked up at her.

"Dig-site shift-change in two-and-a-half hours," the technician reported automatically.

"Good. Keep me appraised. I'm heading down to the storage room to take a look around." Elizabeth went down the rear staircase and worked her way down the hallways until she came to the rooms they had converted into a relic room to store the fruits of the dig. She didn't have too much experience with museum storage areas, so she didn't really know what being inside one felt like. As her eyes fell over the catalogued pieces, Elizabeth could only surmise that the feeling of walking through an ancient market place was the norm. She'd have to ask Alysia when the young woman returned from ‘597 for the night.

Elizabeth picked up an artefact that looked like a plate and turned it over in her hands. The design work was barely visible under the layers of caked-on dirt. She had to resist the urge to brush her fingers over the surface in an attempt to clear it off; there was no telling what that would do to the plate itself. For all she knew, the dirt was the only thing holding it together.

She put the plate back down on the shelf with something akin to reverence and continued on through the room. The thought of a people that pre-dated the Ancients both excited and terrified her and Elizabeth found her mind wandering to questions like, why didn't the Ancients mention anything in the database, or why would a people be so careless with their own recorded history and omit a potentially significant developmental stage of their society?

 _Then again,_ she mused, _the Ancients did seem to omit all the less-than-flattering items from public view._ But how these things fell into that category, Elizabeth didn't know. _Unless they were trying to protect something,_ she reasoned. That had to be it. The broken pendants now worn by Colonel Sheppard and Alysia seemed to indicate that there was a potentially galaxy-shattering revelation still to be uncovered, and Elizabeth was getting impatient with waiting for the big reveal.

As if sensing that impatience, the warning klaxon that signalled ‘Gate activity started to reverberate throughout the central control tower. Carefully threading her way back to the entrance, Elizabeth hurried back up to the control room.

"Report!" she demanded as soon as she gained the top step and delved into the flurry of activity.

"Unscheduled off-world activation," Chuck replied, just as the event horizon and shield snapped into place. After several seconds he added, "Major Calway's IDC incoming."

"Open it up," Elizabeth replied absently, moving to the balcony to watch the arrival. She checked her watch. She had been in the artefact room for forty-five minutes, which meant that Calway and the rest of the dig personnel were more than an hour-and-a-half early. That didn't bode well.

Majors Calway and Felan materialized below, each moving to flank the ‘Gate as they quickly ushered in the rest of the dig-site's afternoon shift. When Noko and Cors crossed the threshold and the event horizon dissipated without spitting out Alysia, Colonel Sheppard or his team, Elizabeth couldn't take it anymore. She hurried down the stairs to the embarkation floor and confronted Major Calway.

"Major? What's going on?"

Calway motioned for Felan to take over and stood before Elizabeth. "We were hit by the Wraith, Ma'am. Three darts came through the ‘Gate; we managed to hide and Colonel Sheppard got the dig crew mobilized and they scattered."

Elizabeth gave him a look. "And why isn't the Colonel with you?"

Calway shook his head. "No idea, ma'am. Once the darts left, Teyla and the scientists regrouped with us and she sent us on through. She mentioned something about not being able to get Colonel Sheppard on his radio, so she, Ronon and Doctor McKay were going to go look for them, in case they're injured. Apparently he and Doctor Ornil broke from the main group and haven't been seen or heard from since."

"Okay, thank you."

"Ma'am," Calway said with a respectful nod before heading off in the direction of the locker rooms.

Elizabeth jogged back up the stairs to the control room and nodded at Chuck. "Dial it up. I need to have a chat with my primary team."

"Yes Ma'am," Chuck replied. In moments, the shimmering blue puddle was back into place.

"Open a channel."

"Channel open."

"Team Sheppard, this is Weir. Please tell me what the hell is going on?"

The radio crackled for a second and then resolved into Teyla's voice. _"This is Teyla. We are currently combing the forest for any sign of Colonel Sheppard and Doctor Ornil. Neither is responding to radio hails."_

"Is it possible the Wraith picked them up?"

 _"It is, however we wanted to be sure before coming to that conclusion."_

 _"Elizabeth, this is McKay. That Major...what's-his-name....Felan, managed to catch the symbols on the DHD when the darts high-tailed it out of here. However, he didn't get the order in which they were dialled."_

"Understood, Rodney. I'll get Zelenka to run them through the database. Do what you have to, and then get back here. I don't think I have to tell you how urgent it is that we find Sheppard and Ornil before the Wraith discover Atlantis' secret."

 _"We will, Elizabeth. Teyla out."_

The iridescent glimmer that bathed the embarkation floor and the control room abruptly disappeared as the conversation terminated.

**

Alysia stood alone in the clearing with her back to the Stargate on P3M-597. The absence of the DHD was unsettling, however, although it was entirely possible she was simply on the wrong side of the 'Gate. She turned around slowly, noting with mild trepidation that the air had a shimmer to it that it had never possessed before. As the platform came into view, the lack of the Ancient monolith that provided near-instant transportation to other worlds elicited a gasp of shock from the archaeologist. Something wasn't right. She clearly recalled the Wraith scouting party and the mad dash from the ruins and into the forest; she clearly recalled the hours spent beforehand mucking about in the dirt and doodling in her book as she oversaw the operation of the dig.

With slow steps, she carefully ascended the empty dais and noticed a layer of dust upon the stone. It was as if no one had stepped foot on this place in centuries, it having been abandoned for some unknown reason. In the field on the other side, there was still no sign of the dial-home-device, which made sense considering that no Stargate was present to be hooked up to it. A sudden fear gripped Alysia then, and without thinking about it, she began running in the direction of the ruins, hoping that she'd run into the patrol, or even Colonel Sheppard or a member of his team. She met no one, however, as she barrelled through the branches and underbrush.

The ruins were deserted, and were in the same untouched state as when she had first seen them. It was as if Team Sheppard had never found this planet, and indeed as if Alysia was now here many, many years prior to the Ancients themselves. That made no sense to her, though, as she stopped in the very centre of the ruins and spun in place, taking it all in. If the people of 597 predated the Ancients, and the Ancients were an old enough race capable of remembering and understanding the original population's language by translating and developing a writing system based upon it, and if Alysia was here prior to the Stargate being built, then for all intents and purposes, Alysia should _not_ have been standing in the middle of ruins. Depending on how far back in time she had gone, either a brand new structure or no structure at all should be here.

Something on the ground caught her eye and she stooped down. Brushing away the dirt uncovered a piece of glass no larger than one of her camera's SD-memory cards. Alysia held it carefully between thumb and forefinger as she straightened, turning it over as she held it up to filter more light through it. As she used the hem of her shirt to polish it off, she realized that what she held wasn't glass; it was a piece of crystal, not unlike a pressed version of the one in her pendant. Something was engraved on it, but she could barely make out the shape. She peered at it closely, brushing at it with a delicate finger.

A rustle of leaves turned her head, as her hand closed around the crystal. Alysia scanned the tree-line for the source of the sound, but could see nothing. A light breeze washed over her and she sighed deeply. Jumping at shadows and errant wind currents wouldn't tell help her current situation.

Why was she here? And where were the others? What had happened to Sheppard and why wasn't she in intense pain from the pendant? More importantly, where the hell was the Stargate? Opening her palm, Alysia looked back at the crystal, her eyes going wide as the etching began to glow. She recognized the symbol almost at once, though she couldn't recall why it was important.

The snap of a twig echoed against the ruins behind her, and Alysia spun around; there a tall figure was framed by the stones and trees. It began to walk towards her, and as it did so, its shape resolved into that of a Wraith queen. At least, Alysia thought it was a Wraith queen. Having never seen one before, she couldn't be sure.

The Wraith bared her teeth in a hissing snarl, cocking her head to one side as she regarded the human woman. Every fibre of Alysia's being screamed at her to run, but her muscles were uncooperative. She was rooted to the spot in fear, knowing that she had no place to run, and limited places to hide. A delicate pressure began to build in Alysia's mind; it felt like icy fingers were tracing patterns over the delicate tissues inside her head, looking for the tiniest of cracks to exploit. The sensation was not unlike the one produced when someone raked their nails down a blackboard, and Alysia shivered even as she flinched at the mental onslaught.

The crystal began to burn in her palm, and a fiery sensation encircled her neck as the pendant suddenly reacted to Sheppard's absence. With her free hand, Alysia scratched at her throat and the nape of her neck, her eyes still riveted to the Wraith. As the queen had closed half the original distance between her and her intended prey, the burn intensified and broke the paralysis that prevented Alysia from running.

The archaeologist turned on her heel and ran blindly into the underbrush, dodging trees and branches. She could hear the queen in close pursuit, and the knowledge that she was being hunted down only made her legs pump harder.

Alysia had no idea for how long she ran, she only knew that the burn in her lungs was beginning to rival the burn of the pendant around her neck, her muscles were beginning to protest and the scenery that had blurred into a mockery of a hyper-space corridor in her peripheral was beginning to thin out. It disappeared altogether as she burst free of the forest and into a large clearing. She slowed and then stopped, doubling over as she tried to catch her breath. Trying to stave off a stitch in her side as she gulped down as much air as she could, the deafening rustle of her pursuer caught up with her and she groaned softly.

There was no way she'd be able to cross the clearing and into the forest on the other side before the queen caught up with her. Frantically, Alysia straightened up and swallowed hard as she tried to find the strength to keep going. Her eyes refocused as she took in the clearing, and warm relief mixed with cold adrenaline; there before her, like an answered prayer, was the DHD and the dormant Stargate.

Alysia didn't hesitate. She ran to the DHD and began to punch in the address for Atlantis. She was halfway through the sequence when the queen entered the clearing. The Wraith didn't pause in its pursuit and, by the time the archaeologist had pressed the centre button to make the connection, the creature was nearly upon her.

Crystal clutched in her hand, Alysia dodged around the DHD, dug out a device from her pocket and transmitted her IDC. She felt the brush of fingers against her back as she took the dais stairs two at a time, and then dived through the shimmering pool of light.

**

Alysia groaned as her knees hit the hard, metallic deck. The hissing growl of the Wraith queen had followed her through the Stargate, and the pressure in her head had returned with a vengeance. She pressed her hands to her temple as she doubled over and tried not to choke on the scream that had lodged itself in her throat.

The agony inside her head halted abruptly with a suddenness that left her reeling just as surely as the pain had. Alysia completely slumped to the ground as her muscles relaxed and the fiery sensation around her neck began to throb; her eyes cracked open and she could see the faint outline of someone hovering over her. As her vision cleared, the image resolved into the same Wraith queen that she had just been running from, and Alysia could make out the organic walls of the chamber behind the imposing figure.

Alysia realized that she had never been back to 597, had never rediscovered the state of the planet simultaneously pre-Ancient and pre-Team Sheppard, and had never been chased through the forest by the queen. It had all been a part of the queen's interrogation and... _oh God._

Alysia felt hot tears well up in her eyes as she was roughly dragged to her feet and hauled out of the chamber. She may not have done any of those things, but she had accomplished one: she had totally failed her interrogation and let slip the fact that Atlantis was still very much intact.

The cover on the Lantean's ruse of having destroyed Atlantis during the siege almost a year ago was now blown and it was all Alysia's fault.

**

"There is absolutely nothing of interest to the Wraith on 597," Rodney insisted. He watched as Elizabeth steepled her fingers and sat back in her chair. The team was gathered in the main conference room, Teyla and Ronon sitting across from Rodney, who sat on Elizabeth's left. "They had to have picked up our presence as they rifled by, or something, and decided to stop in and have a look see."

"To see why an uninhabited planet suddenly grew a population of twenty?" she asked, raising a brow.

Rodney shrugged. "Isn't that what we would have done? Gone out of our way to find out why the status quo changed on a planet we knew to be barren?"

"Point," Elizabeth returned, as she straightened and propped her elbows on the table. "However, now they have Colonel Sheppard and Doctor Ornil and we need to get them back, if only to preserve our little secret about Atlantis not actually being destroyed."

"It's been over a year," Ronon said. "You think they still care?"

Rodney snorted. "Are you kidding me? Atlantis is still the easiest and most reliable gateway to Earth, which, by the way, is the biggest all-you-can-eat buffet for any self-respecting hive."

"Rodney's right." Elizabeth sighed. "Just because a year has passed doesn't mean we can relax. We need to now, more than ever, keep Atlantis' continued existence a secret. I know we barely stopped them from reaching Earth a few months ago on the edge of our two galaxies, but this city cannot fall into their hands, no matter what. Rodney, where do we stand on that gate address?"

Rodney turned to his laptop. "We ran the glyphs through the database's address book and surprisingly pulled more than one possible destination. To narrow it down, we cross-referenced each hit against the database's listing for the corresponding planet and managed to narrow it down to two possible locations."

"Okay, good," Elizabeth replied with a nod. "We'll send a MALP to both planets and hope we find something. Dismissed."


	6. Race Against Time

"MALP telemetry incoming."

Rodney sat at his usual terminal in the control room, his seemingly forgotten tablet computer by his left elbow, and his fingers poised over the keyboard of the laptop in front of him as the information from the MALP filtered across his screen. The first address they had tried had been a bust. The Stargate was planet-side, and some very disturbing images of blood-red skies, black clouds, ominous mountains in the distance, and no trace of oxygen among the gallons of sulphur and carbon dioxide that composed the planet's atmosphere had the scientist wondering, and not for the first time since they had arrived in Atlantis, how long ago the entry in the database had been written.

The information left behind by the Ancients was useful, though Rodney would be the first to advocate its limitations. He blamed the creators of said database, rather than the expedition's incompetence at breaking down the language barriers. The Ancients had a nasty tendency to cover up, candy-coat or completely erase any traces of all the failed experiments they had performed and all the potentially dangerous species in Pegasus. With the exception of a rare few, of course, Rodney had to admit. But the fact that it was useless, more often than not, made him skeptical about trusting anything that they found written in the database.

So it was with some assurance of superiority that he could safely say that he wasn't surprised at the outcome of that first MALP-scout. That, however, did not make him any less susceptible to the optimistically cautious attitude that now permeated much of the control tower. He had actually held his breath after the machine had disappeared through the shimmering event horizon, and didn't cotton on to the fact that he had until he finally let it out slowly as he reviewed the data now streaming across his screen.

He ignored the look he could feel Elizabeth boring into him from her usual spot behind Chuck as he added, "Space-gate this time, but the planet looks clean. No trace of Wraith activity. Yet."

"Is it possible that Major Felan remembered the wrong symbols?"

"It's possible, yes," Rodney agreed, "but I doubt he'd have gotten it wrong when the safety of this base was in jeopardy. It's one of those quirky Marine things I've observed."

He could hear the faint traces of a smile in Elizabeth's reply, "I've noticed, too. It's a habit I've seemed to have picked up. Very well, take a Jumper out there and have a look around. I'll keep Zelenka on those other hits from the address book, just in case."

"Right," Rodney sighed. After transferring the MALP data to his tablet, he tucked it under his arm and pushed away from the console. He gave Elizabeth what was supposed to be a wry smile, but ended up merely flashing a faintly disgusted grimace.

He keyed his radio as he jogged down the back staircase and headed to the locker rooms. "Teyla, Ronon: Gear up and meet me in the Jumper bay."

**

It was the searing pain along his collar bone that finally roused John from the debilitating effects of being reintegrated from the dart's storage unit. The sensation was very much like being hit by five, simultaneous stunner blasts and it usually left one's head throbbing for several minutes afterwards. This time, however, his head didn't have time to indulge in such frivolities. The pain around his neck cut through any other sensations, and John's fingers absently scratched at his neck in an effort to make it stop. Realizing the source of the burning didn't help matters, because there was no way he'd be able to get the pendant off, even if he was one of the two people allowed to touch the damned thing.

He stiffly transitioned from his prone position on the floor to sitting up and leaning against the nearest wall. He tried to lift the chain off his neck so it wouldn't burn into his skin, and the heat that nipped at his fingers had him cursing softly. Not wanting the Wraith to catch a glimpse of the pendant, he opted for folding the collar of his shirt over and under the chain instead of pulling it out of his shirt. That gained him a momentary reprieve from the alien metal; however the heat could still be felt through the fabric. John figured it was only a matter of time before it burned clean through, but hell, he'd take even a second of relief over nothing.

He got his bearings after a quick glance around him. The standard Wraith holding cell was empty save for himself. The pendant's reaction meant that Alysia was nowhere close by, so he had to figure they'd taken her for questioning. They may have gotten in each other's way a bit in the last few weeks as they got used to each other's close proximity, but they had also build up a bit of a rapport that he was inclined to dub a tentative, burgeoning friendship. So it was only natural that he was concerned for her, knowing full well what being questioned by the Wraith involved. Of course, he ignored the fact that he would have been concerned regardless of their relationship status, since she was technically under his command during this mission; he preferred to think it was due to their friendship rather than because he had to as her CO.

Leaning his head back against the wall, John closed his eyes with a soft groan. He was getting tired of adding marks to the running tally he had going of how many times he found himself on the wrong side of Wraith jail cells.

The fabric of his shirt was just about to burn through when John heard the trudging footsteps of Wraith drones approaching. As if his thoughts about Alysia were a supernatural force capable of summoning her, she, along with three guards, appeared from around the corner at the end of the hallway. He opened his eyes and turned his head slightly as he watched as Alysia was half-dragged back to the cell, as if she were having issues making the trek by herself. As soon as they got close enough, the heat from around his neck eased, and he was left with a flaming irritation that heralded one hell of a heat blister.

The door to the cell opened and the guards threw the young woman inside. Once both prisoners were secured, the Wraith turned and left them alone. John watched them go, glaring at the retreating backs until they disappeared from sight. That was when the quiet sob yanked his attention back to Alysia.

The young woman whom he had pegged as a strong, capable person was now hanging her head in dejected shame and crying quietly. He pushed himself off the wall and scooted over. He slid his arm around her shoulders, noting the red skin around her neck from the chain. John reached up and probed the mark and Alysia pulled away from him with a yelp of pain. As she curled up into herself, John tried to coax her into relaxing; he couldn't afford to have her bottling up emotionally or physically.

"Hey," he said softly. "It's over now. You're okay."

"No, no I'm not," she replied with a sniffle. "It...it hurt...a lot."

He moved closer again and placed a hand in her shoulder. "Messed with your head, huh?"

Alysia shook her head and wiped at her eyes with the back of her hand. "It's worse than that."

John blinked. "You had a Wraith poking around your head. How the hell can it be worse than that?" His shoulders slumped as Alysia turned her head away. "What did you do?" he asked quietly. He couldn't help the slight note of anger that insinuated itself in the question so he ignored her flinch. When she didn't answer, John slid his arm back around her shoulders and reached over to turn Alysia's gaze back to him. "Tell me," he said firmly, falling into Lt.-Colonel mode.

Alysia bit her lip for a second, before she closed her eyes, swallowed thickly and then obliged. "I'm so sorry, Colonel. I really am."

"Alysia," he growled softly, starting to lose patience.

"I told them about Atlantis."

John felt his jaw drop, but it didn't register until he had to close his mouth to speak again. "Say that again?"

"This Hive knows that Atlantis is still in one piece."

"How the fu-"

"I said I was sorry!" she exclaimed, cutting him off. "I didn't know...I didn't realize what was happening until it was too late!"

John's mouth worked for a moment as he considered what their options were. He rubbed Alysia's back reassuringly. "Okay," he said finally. He scrubbed his free hand through his hair and glanced around. "We need to get out of here and take this Hive out before it has a chance to pass the message along. Hopefully it's not in any sort of alliance. Then again, this being a lone Hive would be too much of a convenience in the grand scheme of things, and this galaxy seems to want to deny me those conveniences at every possible turn."

"So we have to assume there's more than one hive that knows."

"Yeah." He scrubbed a hand through his hair. "This day just keeps getting better."

"I'm sorry."

"Stop apologizing. Nothing we can do know except play what we've been dealt." He tried to smile at her as he spoke, but he wasn't sure he succeeded. The attempt was wasted, however, as Alysia wasn't paying attention to him, anyway. Or, rather, her focus was on the nasty burn he now sported. He winced as her fingers brushed across the tender flesh.

"That needs to be looked after," she concluded.

John snorted. "Sure, I'll go rattle the bars and ask the guards if we can dial-up Beckett for a house-call." He reached down and brushed her hair off her shoulders. "Yours doesn't look so hot, either."

Alysia smiled ruefully. "Actually, the pain from the burn is what helped me try and fight the mind probe thing. Didn't help completely, though.....what?" she asked, giving him a puzzled look.

John tore his eyes off Alysia's chain and met her gaze. "Let's try it again."

She raised a brow. "Try what again?"

"Putting'em together."

"Uh, that didn't work too well last time. And this time we don't have friendly, helpful doctors to drag us to the infirmary when we hit our heads."

"Just...call it a hunch," he insisted, tugging the pendant from out of his shirt.

Alysia complied, although she gave him a seriously skeptical look as she pulled her own pendant out. The chains weren't long enough to accomplish the task unless the two of them came in really close. John smiled a little at Alysia's reluctance at moving to within kissing distance, and he used the arm he still had around her to pull her closer when she hesitated.

When they were finally close enough, Alysia snorted in faint amusement. John pulled away slightly to give her a look.

"What?" he asked, baffled by her reaction.

Grinning and obviously fighting a wave of hysteria-induced giggles, the young archaeologist squeezed her eyes shut for a split second as she pronounced, "You stink."

"I-..." his shoulders slumped in abashed defeat. Yeah, he supposed he did, seeing as how he had spent the day sweating under a relentless sun and then took a manic run through a humid forest. Of course, the faint smell of her faded perfume, coupled with her own dried sweat from the day's exertions weren't terribly flattering, either. "So do you," he retorted. "Now get over here before I make you vow to spend your next shower with me."

John hid a grin as Alysia's frown was ruined by the faint blush that washed over her cheeks. He enjoyed teasing her and, if he was right, then they'd be free of the Wraith and he'd get to continue teasing her.

Just as Alysia started to move closer, John felt the slight vibrations under his ass a full minute before the faint rumble hit his ears. It was difficult to be affected by the sensation of movement with inertial dampeners mitigating the force, the sheer size of the vessel in general, and the lack of visual confirmation from absent windows, but years of piloting had John attuned to the motion of ships; plus he'd been on enough Wraith cruisers while they were moving through space to comfortably say that the sub-light engines had just been engaged and the hyperdrive was about to get a workout.

"Crap," he muttered.

Alysia paused and gave him a curious look. "What is it?"

"We're moving."

"I take it that's bad?"

"Very bad. Means that if someone's looking for us – and there is a very high probability that Elizabeth's putting together a rescue team, if she hasn't already – we won't be here when they show up."

John hated the way Alysia's face fell at the news. "We could be going anywhere, and there's no way for your team to track us." John shook his head. He watched as Alysia thought about it for several moments before she looked up at him with determination. "Let's do it then. We got nothing to lose," she said, grasping her pendant tightly.

"Okay. I hope this does whatever it's supposed to this time."

"You and me both."

John slid closer to Alysia and leaned in. It took them a couple of tries to get the aim down; when they did, the pieces slid together easily. John squeezed his eyes shut in anticipation of another flash of light and he wasn't disappointed. In an instant, the sight of the Wraith ship dissolved and the engine vibrations disappeared, and John knew that he and Alysia were no longer on the Wraith ship.

**

Rodney rode shotgun as Lorne piloted the Jumper through the ‘Gate. While Elizabeth had given Rodney the order to head out on the recon mission with the rest of the team, the scientist didn't trust himself to be able to fly them back under heavy fire, let alone in a straight line. Plus, heading into Wraith territory without backup seemed like a bad idea, especially if this recon mission turned into an impromptu extraction.

Teyla and Ronon sat in their usual spots in the forward cabin, while the rest of Lorne's team occupied the back. No one was grumbling over the extra duty; they all knew what was at stake, and the Marines had that whole leave-no-man-behind thing going for them.

Rodney heard the cloak engage as soon as they were clear of the event horizon. He poked at the console and did a sensor sweep of the area. "Planet's actually a gas giant," he reported, pointing to the looming mass of swirling gasses. They, and thus the 'Gate, were more than a safe distance away yet the planetoid hung in view like an over-large monster.

"Makes sense considering the Stargate's in orbit," Lorne responded.

Teyla leaned forward, "Are not gas giants uninhabitable?"

"Very uninhabitable," Rodney agreed.

Ronon raised a brow. "Why would the Ancestors put a ‘Gate in orbit around something uninhabitable?

"There's a small moon on the far side of the planet." Rodney tried very hard to not let his mind take that particular phrase and turn it into a ballooning Star Wars metaphor. "Still no trace of any...hold on a second," McKay muttered. He tapped a few more keys. "Bring us around to the other side."

"Talk to me, McKay," Lorne said, attention fixed on orbiting the planet without getting too close.

Rodney tapped a few more buttons and then brought up the HUD just as they came around. "There, see?" he pointed at the display. "The moon is right at the edge of the minimum safe distance for life to exist, just like the gate," the image zoomed out to show the whole sector, "is likewise far enough for people to use it."

Lorne shook his head. "Sensors still say no people."

"They may have been culled," Teyla supplied helpfully.

"That's not all," McKay continued. "I'm picking up traces of emissions from a Wraith hyperdrive; we _just_ missed'em."

Rodney didn't have to look to know that everyone's shoulders sagged at the news. Lorne was the only one who sighed audibly.

"Can you tell which direction they went in?" Lorne asked. "Maybe we can head'em off somehow?"

"Yes, because we suddenly have magic engines that will allow us to do that." Rodney rolled his eyes before punching in the appropriate commands to get Lorne his information. The scientist felt the blood drain from his face as the answers scrolled across the screen. "Oh, hell. We really _are_ too late. Whatever Wraith ship was here is now on a direct course for Atlantis."

**

 _"The Wraith are on their way to Atlantis,"_ Major Lorne reported. Elizabeth sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose.

"Yes, Major. We know. Our long range sensors just detected fifteen Hive ships in-bound." Elizabeth crossed her arms over her chest and looked at the event horizon shimmering behind the protective shield.

The sputter of disbelief at her words had to be McKay, Elizabeth thought. Her assumption was proved when his was the next voice to speak: _"Fifteen?! There's only evidence here of one!"_

"I know, Rodney. The ship you discovered may very well be where Colonel Sheppard and Dr. Ornil are being held prisoner. That doesn't mean they don't have allies they shared the secret with."

 _"How long do we have, ma'am?"_ Lorne asked.

"If they maintain present course and speed, they'll be here in less than a day. I need you all back here on Atlantis so we can go over our options. Maybe we can find a way to fool them again."

 _"Right. We're in-bound now. Lorne out."_

Elizabeth nodded to Chuck. "Lower the shield." Half a second later, the barrier dropped, and less than a minute later the Jumper was back in the city. Elizabeth watched as the craft ascended into the ceiling towards the Jumper bay before turning her back on the embarkation area. They had a lot of work to do, and not a lot of time to do it.


	7. Figuring Things Out

The control room was buzzing with activity, as Zelenka, McKay and every other technician on-duty crunched the numbers. Tensions were higher than normal, and Elizabeth didn't blame them.

"What are our options, people?" she asked. She had been trying not to hover and let them work, but sitting in her office and trying to wait for results was making her antsy.

"Well," Zelenka replied, glancing up at her, "we cannot simply cloak the city and hope they go away. Not this time."

"No," Elizabeth agreed. "They might have acquired intel from the hives that were here a year ago, which would include sensor data containing the city's location; if they know about our ruse, they might put two-and-two together and simply open fire."

"Exactly."

"So again: what are our options?"

Zelenka went through two false starts before he finally landed with, "Other than raise the shields and hope we survive? We don't have any."

Frustrated, Elizabeth turned away from him. She could feel him still watching her, and she tried not to let it feed her growing irritation. She was getting tired of these cat-and-mouse games with the Wraith. "Is there a way to move the city to another location on the planet?"

McKay looked up. "If we wanted to come back to this spot afterward and save ourselves the trouble of free-floating on the currents, no."

"Meaning?"

"Meaning," McKay said, turning so he could use his hands to illustrate, "that the city is being held by large – for lack of a better term – docking clamps that are buried into the ocean floor. They clamp the city in place and prevent it from being subject to the ocean's currents. Those docking clamps are also what allowed the Ancients to lower the city ten thousand years ago, and what pushed it to the surface shortly after we arrived." McKay took a breath and continued on before anyone could interject with the rest, "If we unclamp the city, engage the stardrive and fly to another section of water, not only do we risk depleting too much of the ZedPM's power, but when the Wraith finally do get here and attack?"

"They could take out the docking clamps and leave us without a place to come back to," Elizabeth finished. "Right. Bad idea. Anything else?"

"We could find a way to give false navigational readings?" Zelenka ventured.

"What?!" McKay sniped. "That's ridiculous. And it would take more time than we have."

Off of Elizabeth's raised brow, Zelenka obliged an explanation: "What I mean is, maybe it is possible to trick the Wraith's navigation computers into thinking that the geography of the planet is different. They do not rely on visual scanning to verify targets when they simply open fire on the surface; instead they rely on their sensor-output to lock onto objects."

Elizabeth tried not to look too hopeful. "Make them think that they're firing on the right spot, but have them really attack empty water?"

McKay rolled his eyes. "If it was one Hive? Then sure, maybe it would work; we could even get enough junk out there to give them a bunch of debris so they can feel all smug and superior about killing us." Elizabeth watched as her head scientist narrowed his eyes and glanced at everyone. "And am I the only one who recalls that this city is still their best shot at finding Earth? The Wraith won't fire on us, they'll send every dart they have and scoop us all up before descending upon the city like the bloody scavengers they are."

"So we're back to cloaking the city and praying," Elizabeth said with a sigh.

"It's worth a shot," McKay replied, turning back to his laptop. "Maybe they'll think the stress of their interrogations caused Sheppard and Ornil's subconscious's to make a mistake. That'll take us back to knowing where they are," McKay pointed up at the ceiling, indicating that he meant in orbit around Lantea, "and having another chance to rescue them while we try and figure out something else. Hell, maybe we'll get lucky and they'll have to stop and feed on the way. Give us a few more hours to stave of death, hrm?"

"Okay. Keep me informed," Elizabeth said softly, glancing once more at the cluster of blips on the sensors. She hated having her hands tied like this. "And send an update to the SGC, let them know what's going on."

Elizabeth turned her back on the control room and headed back into her office. They were back to a game of wait-and-see. She only hoped they could make it out of this round intact.

**

When Alysia's vision cleared, and reality reintegrated, she was glad to feel her body in one piece. The feeling was closely chased by the realization that she was still leaning in very close to the colonel, and she pulled away.

"I promise to smell better the next time," he said with a rueful smile, and Alysia couldn't help the grin that tugged at her lips.

She covered it by looking around and trying to figure out what had happened. "Where are we?"

"Dunno." Sheppard wiped his hands on his knees as he took in the surroundings.

"Well, wherever we are, it looks Ancient." Alysia pushed herself to her feet. As she stretched, the sound of something hitting the floor drew her attention back down. Sheppard's head turned back, as well, and he reached out and picked up the object. Alysia watched his brow rise before he lifted his hand.

Blinking in disbelief, Alysia picked up the pendant from his palm even as her other hand went to her throat. Her neck was bare, and the pendant and its chain were now pooled in her hand. She gave Sheppard a curious look, and he took it as a cue to look for his. Sure enough, he found it hiding inside his shirt.

"Well that's helpful," Alysia said wryly. She looked back around the room. The walls, floor and ceiling were nearly identical to what was found on Atlantis. There were two angled banks of consoles in front of a large, crystal view-sheet hanging from the ceiling. There were no visible doors or windows, and the lights had already been on when they had regained their senses; the consoles and the screen were still dormant, however. "Well, the decor is typical for a lab on Atlantis. How did you know we'd be teleported off the ship?"

Sheppard shrugged. "I remembered the flash from the first time; reminded me of the city's transporters. If what you said was true about what the pendant was made out of, then why couldn't it be a small, personal transporter?"

"The scroll work could act as circuitry, the crystal the power source and the rest of it as the CPU. It wouldn't take a lot of memory to store a single destination, and transporting two people one-way wouldn't take a lot of power. I mean you powered those transporters with naquadah generators, right? No ZeePM needed?"

Sheppard smiled. "Which means we're probably stuck here. But stuck here is better than stuck with the Wraith. Though if McKay was here, we wouldn't have been stuck for long."

"Well, at least I can read Ancient. That means I can figure out where we are and what this place is faster than McKay any day. Can you turn those on?" Alysia asked, pointing at the consoles.

"Let's try," Sheppard said, pocketing his half of the pendant. Alysia stood back and watched him approach the two consoles and look them over. She tried not to wince as he ran his hands over the surface of the one on the right, causing it to light up. The screen and the remaining console both lit up in response to the first; once the initial blip of being turned on passed, Alysia stepped up to the left console and peered at the interface now showing on the screen.

"Usually doesn't take that long for Ancient tech to respond to me," Sheppard said with a pout. "I must be losing my touch."

Alysia grinned, "No, Colonel. You're not. According to this, we're in some sort of special lab. The fact that you needed to physically touch the console to turn it on isn't incongruous with their other machines. You needed to touch the consoles in the control room to initialize them, right?"

"Well, yeah...I see what you're saying. Didn't pop on like the Jumper or the lights or whatever because it's a security feature."

"Exactly. Which means that this is a very important piece of equipment."

"Or just very dangerous."

"True."

They fell silent as Alysia mentally translated the rest of the interface and then turned to the text on the consoles; she tried to punch a few buttons, but nothing seemed to work. She frowned for a moment, and then pointed at a button. "Push that for me?" The text on the screen changed as Sheppard obliged. "Damn," Alysia said with a sigh. "Talk about uber security. No one without the ATA gene can control this thing."

"More security measures?"

"More than likely. Time to see if we can't find out why..."

**

After several hours of being directed on which buttons to press, and not being given any information outside of Alysia's hems and haws, John was getting annoyed. He hated it when scientists didn't share the good stuff right away. Before he could complain, however, Alysia's eyes went wide and she started to bounce.

"Oooooh, this is good," Alysia breathed.

 _Finally!_ he thought. _Maybe I'll get some answers now._ "What's good?" he asked, trying not to let his impatience bleed too much into his words.

"This lab is for some experimental weapons system that the original Lanteans were working on."

"Great, more experimental weaponry." John tried not to roll his eyes. "Seems those have a high rate of blowing up in our face."

"Not this one. It's actually past all the R-and-D; I only say experimental because it's a weapon they never got to use on a regular basis."

"Which normally means that it was a failed experiment. Most of the crap of this sort that we've found that had progressed beyond the R-and-D phase were _still_ abandoned."

Alysia shook her head. "All the tests, both simulated and real, worked. The only reason why this lab was abandoned was because they were evacuating the city by the time it was complete. And from what I'm reading, this weapon could have saved them, but because the Wraith just kept coming, no matter how many they killed with it, it ended up being a bigger liability in the long run. This is like, a last option only device, and only if this last option is going to wipe out the problem for good."

"Huh," John intoned. "That's different."

"And you want to know the coolest part?"

"How could it get any cooler?" John teased lightly.

"We're actually back on Atlantis."

"That is coo- wait, what?!"

"Yep. This lab is hidden. No windows, no doors. Only way in and out is the pendant. It's really deep inside the city. Possibly shielded from sensors, too."

John's eyes unfocused as he thought of something. "That's why they imprinted on us and wouldn't come off until we got here. Prevents anyone from taking the halves and using it to access the lab without authorization. But you don't have the gene..."

John watched as a sudden realization seemed to hit the young scientist. " _That's_ why the pendants didn't work the first time!" she exclaimed. "Neither myself nor anyone else who handled my half prior to our first attempt had the gene. It wasn't initialized. When you picked it up to put it around my neck, it must have turned on; the only reason why it didn't imprint on you, as well, was because you had already been claimed by the other half. So when it touched me, it simply finished the process that had begun by your touching it."

"That also explains why the whole burning thing didn't start happening until afterward, too."

"Right. Because mine wasn't turned on yet."

"So, okay, that part of the mystery is solved. What the hell is this weapon and what does it do?"

Alysia turned back to the screen. "Well, it's an energy weapon of sorts. It forms a protective barrier around the city and...disintegrates?...everything around it. I'm having issues with that one word. But that seems to be the gist of it?"

"Okay, next question is, how do we use it to solve our current problem. If we're on Atlantis, that means we have a Wraith ship bearing down on us."

"Er, we have _fifteen_ Wraith ships bearing down on us, actually," Alysia replied wryly.

John stared at her. "Fifteen?! How do you know?"

Alysia pointed at a portion of the screen. "That area is tied into the city's long-range sensors. It's a direct feed to whatever they're watching in the control tower."

"So they know these guys are coming."

"We can't tell them we're here to help. There's no communications system."

"That makes a certain amount of sense. You can usually trace the location of things by their comm.-signals. So we're deaf, but not blind. How long do we have until the Wraith show up."

"Not long. Looks like they took the short-cut."

"Can you make this thing work?"

"I think so, hold on.....yeah. Yeah, I can. It'll take a little time for me to muck my way through, but I think I can do it." She looked up at him with a sad smile. "Sorry I'm not McKay. I know you guys would've been in and out of here in less time than we've been stuck here."

John smiled. "Actually, I'm kinda glad you aren't McKay. You're a lot less condescending than he is with this stuff."

His smile grew as Alysia's cheeks flushed a little at the praise, and she ducked her head and began looking over the consoles. "Okay," she said, pointing at a button. "Start with that one..."

**

Rodney hated admitting defeat. He could fix anything, solve any problem and stave off certain doom with flair and panache. So when he couldn't find a solution to save their asses, it really rankled him. Unfortunately for everyone else, this usually meant that he got even crankier than normal, and had a tendency to bite people's heads off more frequently and with more ire and snark. This time, however, his miffed state at not finding a way out of the impending doom facing Atlantis was being tempered with an unhealthy dose of sheer terror. He really didn't want to die. Not here, not now, and not like this.

He and Zelenka had gone through their bantering-shtick more than a dozen times over before they finally got too weary of running through the dialogue and settled on being jointly dark and moody on opposite sides of the control room. Rodney had no idea what Zelenka was up to, though he could see his colleague sitting with his chin in hand as he stared at a laptop screen.

"Please tell me you're not playing solitaire."

Zelenka roused himself from whatever had drawn him into his stupor and glanced around. Realizing the remark had come from Rodney, the Czech frowned. "No. I was running through the numbers of our various scenarios."

"Huh. I've been going over our inventory reports to see if there isn't anything we can't use...hold on a second." Rodney sat up a little straighter as he flipped through another couple of screens. "How accurately can we predict where the Wraith'll drop out of hyperspace, do you think?"

"I don't know. We know what trajectory they will be coming in on, but not the exact location in which the window will open."

"Trajectory is good. We just have to cover the distance between the possible minimum and maximum ranges...go get Elizabeth," he ordered with a vague shooing gesture in the general direction of Weir's office.

Rodney heard Zelenka grumbling as the Czech pushed away from his laptop and walked the short distance to the administration office. Less than a minute later, the pair returned.

"Talk to me, Rodney," Weir said, sounding slightly desperate.

"I think I've got something. We have several nukes left from the Daedalus' last visit."

Rodney could hear the arched eyebrow in her reply of, "Yes, what of them?"

Rodney looked up at her. "Well, we can use them to blow up the Wraith when they show up."

"And how do you propose we do that, hm?" Weir crossed her arms over her chest and gave Rodney that piercing stare.

"Oh, well, it's simple, really. We can't beam anything over because we don't have beaming technology in the city and the Daedalus isn't around to help."

"Which doesn't matter anyway because the Wraith can just jam our signal," Zelenka added.

"Yes, yes," Rodney said dismissively. "That wasn't my plan anyhow."

"Rodney..." Elizabeth warned.

"Well, if you'd all stop interrupting me, I'd get to explaining myself! Listen, when travelling through hyperspace, only minimal shielding is required to protect from the effects of traveling through sub-space. This means that at the moment of egress, the Wraith's shields are going to be weak. We take those nukes and place them strategically along the line of their trajectory and rig them to blow sequentially."

"And they're destroyed before they even get a shot off," Elizabeth said with a sad smile. "And what about Sheppard and Ornil? This plan of yours kills them just as surely as it would kill the Wraith."

"Actually, ma'am," Chuck said from behind Weir. "I've been monitoring their progress and it looks like they're going to be making a stop before reaching Atlantis."

"Which is...?" Weir prompted.

Rodney shrugged. "The same spot they stopped last time: where the weapons platform used to be at the nearest Lagrangian point, fifteen hours out from Atlantis."

"Do we have time to make it out there?"

"If you sent a team _now_ , then yes. But just barely."

"Right." Weir keyed the radio. "Major Lorne, assemble your team and Dr. Beckett and report to the Jumper bay stat." When she was done, she looked back at Rodney. "I'll brief Major Lorne in the Jumper Bay. Do what you need to, Rodney. We're counting on you."

"As always." He pushed away from the console and gathered his laptop. "Radek, we have a detonation sequence to program and nukes to place."

Rodney ignored the eye-roll he got from the Czech and ushered him out of the room, leading the way to the storage area housing the nukes. It was going to be another long day at the office.


	8. It's Never the End

The sun had set and the lights from the city were diffused through the stained glass in bright patterns. The night-shift had merely integrated into the day-shift, causing the usual number of bodies in the control room, and other locations throughout the city, to double. The increase in personnel helped everyone to be ready on time. As it was, it still took the better part of those remaining hours for Rodney and his team to have heated discussions over the best placement of the warheads followed by even more animated discussions over the best way to rig them. In the end, the job was done within the allotted time, and Rodney was ready to go in the control room.

"From the Lagrangian point there is only one basic direction for the ships to go, and that's directly towards us," he said to Elizabeth, who was hovering over his shoulder. "We've got the warheads armed with a program that will vary depending on which one is triggered first."

"I don't follow," she replied.

"We don't know where, precisely the Wraith plan to drop out of hyperspace. We placed the warheads in a configuration that covers the most ground while still allowing for significant overlap of primary explosions. The first ship to drop out will trigger a proximity sensor on the closest nuke, which will start the detonation program."

"So they'll go off in a different order depending on which one is triggered first."

"Exactly. That way we won't have to guess which one should be the first to detonate in the sequence."

"Good job, Rodney." Rodney beamed and only half-listened in as Elizabeth ordered Chuck to open a link to Major Lorne's team.

"Major, how're you doing out there?" she asked.

 _"Just great, ma'am. We're almost in position."_

"Wraith ETA is just under three minutes, Major," Rodney advised.

 _"Understood. We'll call you when we're done."_

"Good luck. Atlantis out." Elizabeth turned to Rodney. "Now we wait."

"Yeah, pretty much," Rodney replied, distracted. "That's odd."

"What is it?"

"I'm reading power fluctuations.

"From where?" Elizabeth crossed over to Rodney's terminal.

"No clue. Sensors are having trouble locating the source. Whatever it is, it's drawing power from the ZedPM and resolving into a steady build-up of energy. It's also increasing exponentially."

"Can you stop it?"

"Gimmie a second...no. No, I can't. I can't isolate the source and all of my attempts to cut it off from the ZedPM are being rejected. It's like I'm locked out of the power grid." He glanced over at Zelenka, who simply shrugged helplessly. The Czech glanced at his terminal, did a double-take and then started typing furiously after pushing his glasses back up his nose.

"The power is being channelled through the various conduits throughout the city."

"What?!" Rodney exclaimed. "To _where?!_ "

"The outer spires of the city."

"You're lying." Rodney pushed away from his terminal and yanked Zelenka away from his. He perused the screen. "Huh. Energy's being redirected throughout the city to the outer spires." He ignored the look Zelenka gave him and pushed several more keys. As he worked, the lights all across the city dimmed until they were working in near-darkness. A blinding brightness and the crackle of electricity drew their attention outside. Rodney hurried to the balcony, Elizabeth, Zelenka and a dozen others hot on his heels.

The scientist skidded to a stop and his jaw fell open as the outer spires in their visual range sparkled in brilliance and were rapidly engulfed by a golden fire.

As the energy reached the top, it shot into the sky in a solid beam, arcing towards the center spire. Rodney turned on his heel to follow its trajectory and the only thing saving him from tumbling over the railing he had just backed into was Elizabeth grabbing his arm and tugging him back.

The energy from each spire reached the apex of the central spire simultaneously in a shower of sparks. Once the outer spires were clear and the energy had completely collected above the city's center, it shot up in mimicry of the shields and began to spread across the city in a golden dome.

Once the canopy touched the water, it began to rapidly expand outward into the night, until it reached the horizon. Once it seemed to stop, Rodney flew back inside and flung himself back into his chair as he frantically began typing. By the time everyone had come back inside he had the information up on the main screen and they watched as the sensors showed the dome encompassing the entire planet. Once the planet was surrounded the line denoting the layer of energy rushed away from the planet like a shockwave.

Rodney keyed the radio. "Major Lorne, come in please...Major, are you there? Dammit. Whatever the hell that is it's interfering with communications."

They could do nothing but watch as the shockwave sped into the galaxy until it finally went beyond the range of the long-range sensors. As soon as it was gone, the radio crackled just as Zelenka magnified the area of the screen that had been charting the progress of the Wraith blips.

None were left.

 _"Atlantis, this is Major Lorne. I don't know what the hell happened, but as soon as those cruisers dropped out of hyperspace they....disintegrated."_

"Rodney..." Elizabeth warned, her tone slightly panicky, alarmed and angry.

"I don't know what that was! It by passed the Jumper completely, but that could have been the cloak..."

"What about Colonel Sheppard and Dr. Ornil?"

Rodney slumped in his chair, defeated. "If nothing's left of those cruisers and they were on board...." No one wanted to say out loud what Rodney had avoided uttering.

 _"Ma'am, should we try looking for an escape pod?"_

Rodney watched the various emotions play over Elizabeth's face as she wrestled with the decision. On one hand, saying yes was what was expected; if there was no search she would be seen as giving up on two members of the expedition. On the other, those cruisers were completely decimated. Unless John and Alysia had managed to escape before the ill-fated voyage, then they, too, were so many scattered molecules. He didn't envy her this decision.

Elizabeth drew a breath as she seemed to have come to her conclusion and was about to utter the verdict when a bright silver flash blinded them momentarily. When Rodney's vision cleared, his eyes fell on Sheppard and Ornil, both standing in front of the consoles facing each other, alive and whole. One pair of arms was being grasped by the other, while the second set of arms held the joined pendant between their fingers.

" _That_ was cool," John said, beaming like pleased a two-year-old.

"Hell yes," Ornil replied, her cheeks flushed with barely contained excitement. They both seemed to realize their audience at the same time, as they slowly turned to face the crowd.

"Oh, hey guys," Sheppard said, grin still firmly in place. "Did you see that?"

"Return to Atlantis, Major Lorne," Elizabeth said into the radio. "You won't be finding Colonel Sheppard or Dr. Ornil out there."

 _"Ma'am?"_ Lorne sounded surprised.

"Trust me Major, when I say that they're both fine and that you should come home now."

After a long silence, Lorne replied. _"Roger that. Returning home."_

Elizabeth glared at Sheppard. "Now, Colonel, I believe you have a lot of explaining to do."

**

"So they had a weapon that would kill the Wraith and potentially end the war, and yet they didn't use it?" McKay sounded skeptical, and Alysia didn't blame him. They were all seated around the conference table, and Sheppard had just finished relating their story. She and Sheppard had been given time to shower and change while they waited for Major Lorne and his team to return. Once everyone was accounted for, they had congregated for the debrief.

"The weapon was never meant for such a large attack force," Alysia replied. "It was meant more for a final, decisive assault rather than sustained use. It would have burned out far before it made any significant dent in the Wraith armada."

"Typical. Where did you say this lab was, anyhow?"

Sheppard shrugged. "No clue. It was somewhere in Atlantis, but we couldn't figure out its exact location."

"Not that it matters," Alysia said. "Not only do the pendants prevent anyone outside of me and Colonel Sheppard from having access, we uh....well, they need to be recharged and I can't find the information that would tell us how to do that."

Elizabeth raised a brow. "So they're dormant again?"

"More like dead," Alysia clarified. "Seems they hold only enough of a charge to transport two people in and out of the lab once. I think it's meant as a last-ditch failsafe, in case the pair assigned to the weapon had to abort and ended up being captured after returning."

"So how did they get scattered in the first place?" Elizabeth asked.

"Alysia thinks that the last two Ancients in charge of the pendants left Atlantis during the final siege. One returned to 597 to bury the item in the ruins, hoping that someone from Atlantis would find it some day," Sheppard answered.

"And the other," Alysia continued, "kept the pendant and fled to another world entirely. The person may have either died or ascended, leaving the pendant behind; it was then sold off and managed to filter its way into that merchant's care."

"And what about that translation?" Elizabeth leaned forward. "Did we ever figure that out?"

"Oh!" Alysia snapped her fingers. "That's right! That hallucination or whatever that the Queen....yeah, I found the missing link. In the dream I found a piece of crystal with a rune on it. It looked just like one of the runes from the older text, but with a minor difference. After I washed up, I had another look and it turns out that the rune that's similar to the one from my dream is actually incomplete. Erosion completely smoothed away a part of the letter, making it one and the same as the one from the crystal. So I popped it into the sequence and ran it through the translation matrix."

"And?" Elizabeth prompted.

"It was a poem that clued anyone able to translate it into the fact that it was the final resting place of the pendant." Alysia cleared her throat. "The Guardians of Atlantis will rise from the deep. That Ancient city they each will keep. All enemies tremble when they raise their hands. Protection divine will protect the lands. So Children of Atlantis call out in your need, and the Guardians of Atlantis your words will heed."

"The guardians being the two in charge of the weapon?" Elizabeth asked.

Alysia nodded. "That's what I think. The hand-raising could be indicating the gesture of the two pendants being put together."

"Protection divine....oh how didn't I know?" McKay replied with a sigh. "Once the initial shock wore off, I couldn't help thinking that the energy the weapon produced looked vaguely familiar." The scientist met everyone's gaze, and his shoulders slumped when it was evident that no one else was thinking what he was. "Proculus? A year and a half ago? Remember? We were ambushed by several darts and that electromagnetic blast shot up from the planet and destroyed them?"

"Oh, come off it Rodney," Sheppard scoffed. "This wasn't an Ascended Ancient that we somehow managed to summon..."

"No," Alysia agreed. "But it might be where the idea came from."

Elizabeth smiled. "The Ancients knew about the weapon and what it was capable of, and because ascended beings can exert control over the universe, Chaya –"

"Athar," Rodney corrected. Elizabeth ignored him.

"– knew she could manipulate matter into a weapon that could destroy the Wraith."

"Right, so tell me you were able to copy the lab's database?" Rodney looked a little too excited, and Alysia winced

"Um, no. I had nothing on me to even try when we first got there, and as it was most of our time was spent trying to figure the thing out."

McKay's face fell. "You gotta be kidding me."

"It's uh, worse than that," Sheppard added sheepishly. "We think we broke it."

"Broke it?! What? How?"

Alysia blushed. "Well, when we noticed how far out the Wraith were going to be, we had to make sure that the amount of power we used would be capable of sufficiently sustaining the electromagnetic shockwave with the maximum possible destructive power."

"So you just blew a fuse," Rodney stated hopefully.

"No, I think we melted something." Alysia grimaced. "So unless or until you find a way to charge those pendants, and unless or until you can figure out how to use my research on the naquadah ore to make new replacement bits, I don't think it's fixable."

Rodney facepalmed. "Of course you broke it beyond repair and beyond my reach. I swear, this galaxy hates me."

"Look on the bright side," Alysia tried to reassure him. "At least you know the lab exists?"

"Right, and it's going to haunt me for the rest of my life."

Elizabeth stood up. "Well, I don't think there's anything more to discuss then, if we can't get at this lab or the weapon. Take the next twenty-four hours off and then back to work, all of you." And with that, they were dismissed.

**

John caught up with Alysia half-way to their shared quarters and fell into step with her.

"So, guess this means we can move back into our own rooms, huh?"

Alysia grinned. "Yeah, I suppose it does. And you won't have to spend any more time on 597 with us."

John laughed. "Yeah, I think my team is going to be ecstatic when they realize that we're back onto normal rotation." He bumped into her playfully. "Us not having to be glued at the hip doesn't mean you get out of hanging with us, though. I expect to see you at least during breakfast and dinner. And in the gym every now and then, for sparring sessions."

Alysia grinned and ducked her head shyly. "I'll see what I can do, but I won't promise anything outside of breakfast and dinner."

John beamed. "Great! Consider it a long-standing date."

"Absolutely."


End file.
